pickIt took me a bit to get used to the style of the story and it starts out a bit slow as we learn about the Only People and their lives/culture, but once Young Hunter set out on his journey, I was hooked. I especially loved his relationship with his dogs!
“Reed looked hard at Young Hunter as she spoke those last words and he felt a shiver go down his spine. He understood. He saw who the fire hunters were and the greatness of their danger to all the people. He saw that they were beings to be pitied and feared. He saw too that his own weak seeing was needed now to help these people of the Village Between the Hills, as well as his own Dawn Land People.”
“The dogs looked up at him and then turned to run back in the direction from which they had come. Young Hunter faced the west and began to make his way quickly down the hill, angling toward the headland where his uncle had taken him four autumns before. As he ran, a part of his divided mind retold him that story of the hunter and his dogs. The rhythm of his grandmother‘s voice speaking the tale blended with the soft beat of his running feet.”
“All of the fear that had edged close to him was gone now. One of the dogs in the lean-to behind him stretched its legs, pressing them against Young Hunter‘s back. He would not think of tomorrow now. He would hold the sweetgrass basket close to his face and smell it; he would enjoy the warmth of his fire, and soon, the taste of his food. It would be enough. For now, it would be enough. Tomorrow he would reach the village of the Salmon People.”
“He built the fire before the sun was rose.”
#FirstLineFriday
@ShyBookOwl
The sweetest little spirit I know has volunteered his services as reading buddy while I hunker down with MEAN SPIRIT. It‘s a fictionalized take on the events everyone now knows from KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON, written by a Chickasaw woman, and it‘s excellent so far. I hope I can scrounge lots of time with it tonight.
pickStunning and transformative. These pieces brought the oldest myths and traditions into the world we live in now, and merged the two like a double exposed photograph. It showed beauty in places we typically don‘t see it, and exposed an authenticity to certain rituals in ways I‘d never fully understood before.
#TuesdayTunes @TieDyeDude
Once again a poem in my morning poetry book was inspired by a specific song, and since I don‘t know much about jazz listening to this with Joy Harjo‘s words in mind was revelatory.
https://open.spotify.com/track/55GY76amiMF9wjAeto5vco?si=qUyicB1ORlOcKWYDuqGDwQ&...
(I couldn‘t find a link to the poem, but it‘s The Other Side of Yellow to Blue in the Tagged book).
pickAn older book, but a very good read. Ultimately, it‘s about a lifestyle that was changed by colonization, and what the Ojibwe lost. We can, and still need to, learn so much from the indigenous people. A simple read, but with a lot behind it.
