Poem: Lone Medicine Woman

OjibwayMigisi

Anishinaabekwe

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Tags:

• Environment
• healing
• Land
• Native American women

Lone Medicine Woman

March 15th 2008

I see the Plains woman,
Pace inside her home,
Light a candle,
And pray,
She worries about the scattering of everyone’s spirit,
Through drugs,
Through alcohol,
Through violence,
Through allowing oppression,
Exploitation,
Shame,
Guilt,
To reign,
So,
In her small,
Dark home,
But full of light,
Just outside of town,
She recognizes,
The trauma,
But,
The remedy,
The tall plains grass,
She connects,
The field wild flowers,
Ravens,
Crows,
Sparrows,
And on sunny days,
The clear and full blue sky,
Wide open,
Expansive,
As if to catch prayers,
To catch the trembling below,
The trembling in the town,
On the rez,
Scattered through the fields,
Mismatched,
Displaced,
Lost on county roads,
Wandering children,
Wandering drunks,
Wandering saints,
Every night,
This lone medicine woman,
Lights a small white candle,
White for light,
White for healing,
White for the highest order,
White for the Buffalo Calf Woman,
The candle,
Emits,
A light,
From the window,
Out into the world,
Shinning so brightly,
On the plains,
The lone medicine woman,
Emits her light,
Does her job,
So intricately,
So beautifully,
Working,
From the plains.