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Running on the Edge of the Rainbow: Laguna Stories and Poems
with
Leslie Marmon Silko
Storytelling
Indian Song: Survival
We went north
to escape winter
climbing cliffs
we paused to sleep at the river.
Cold water river cold from the north
I sink my body in the shallow
sink into sand and cold river water.
You sleep in the branches of
pale river willows above me.
I smell you in the silver leaves, mountainlion man
green willows aren't sweet enough to hide you.
he is warmer than any man.
I have slept with the river and
I heard ice on the cattails.
At sunrise
Mountain lion, with dark yellow eyes
you nibble moon flowers
while we wait.
I don't ask why do you come
on this desperation journey north.
I am hunted for my feathers
I hide in spider's web
hanging in a thin grey tree
above the river.
In the night I hear music
song of branches, dry leaves scraping the moon.
and I know he is waiting.
Green spotted frogs sing to the river
Mountain lion shows me the way
path of mountain wind
climbing higher
up
up to Cloudy Mountain.
It is only a matter of time, Indian
you can't sleep with the river forever.
Smell winter und know.
I swallow black mountain dirt
while you catch hummingbirds
trap them with wildflowers
pollen and petals
fallen from the Milky Way
You lay beside me in the sunlight
warmth around us and
you ask me if I still smell winter.
Mountain forest wind travels east and I answer:
taste me,
I am the wind
touch me,
I am the lean, grey deer
running on the edge of the rainbow. |
Return to the contents page for
Running on the Edge of the Rainbow: Laguna Stories and Poems
By This Song I Walk: Navajo Songs | Seyewailo: The Flower World Yaqui Deer Songs | The Origin of the Crown Dance: An Apache Narrative and Ba'ts'oosee: An Apache Trickster Cycle | Iisaw: Hopi Coyote Stories | Natwaniwa: A Hopi Philosophical Statement | Running on the Edge of the Rainbow: Laguna Stories and Poems | Songs of My Hunter Heart: Laguna Songs and Poems | A Conversation with Vine Deloria, Jr. | Home
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