Joy Harjo - Iyengar II, Oct 13th

For Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which was exciting in Santa Fe this year. Protestors pulled down the Civil War monument at the center of the Plaza. Stories some of us take for granted as positive have a VERY different meaning for others. At the very least we need to be willing to hear each other’s stories, to go forward together.

EXILE OF MEMORY

…

Don't look back.

In Sunday school we were told Lot’s wife

Looked back and turned

To salt.

But her family wasn't leaving Paradise.

We loved our trees and waters

And the creatures and earths and skies

In that beloved place.

Those beings were our companions

Even as they fed us, cared for us.

If I turn to salt

It will be of petrified tears

From the footsteps of my relatives

As they walked west.