River, Blood, And Corn Literary Journal

By M. Carmen Lane

uprooted

& pushed

through

stillness

came for

there was

nothing

left to do

but fall

onto the

smooth/

bumpy back

of Turtle

watch

as Nana’s

primordial

soil spreads

bringing

equilibrium

woods

& water

purpose

unknown/

this new

world

is waiting

for you

my sons

I pass on

pregnant

thoughts

of good will/

possibility

unmoving

unable to

let all

the grief

I carried too

the shadow

side of

joy

tangled

energy

my offspring

will play out

this tension

over & again

my head on

a pike

even ceremony

will not be

enough

we must

examine again

our resistance

like the

ancestors

uprooted/

falling

through

into new

life

M. Carmen Lane, author of Calling Out After Slaughter

M. Carmen Lane (African-American/Mohawk/Tuscarora) is a poet, cultural worker and consultant. Carmen's work has been published in Red Ink Magazine, The Yellow Medicine Review and is a contributor to the Lambda Literary Award nominated anthology Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit Literature.
www.lanecatalytics.com

In the Purple and Blue of It

—From Words Facing East By Kimberly L. Becker

Walking the property

In the late afternoon

In the purple and blue of it

The stand of pines

Fairytale deepness

Past the reservoir

Crunching hulls of black walnuts

Thinking:

This is sacred ground

My eyes devour the view

That I like to claim as mine

But know it’s not, despite the deed

When I return to the anxiety

Of the city

I will long for this land

As a lover for the body of the beloved

I will recall its voice

The trickle of creek

call of hawks

rain as it comes up the valley

I have seen mesas

Great red tables

Altars for sacrifice

But it is these mountains

I hold against the bruise of my heart

The purple and blue

Of their mothering forms

Purple and blue

Words Facing East (WordTech Editions, 2011)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Born in Georgia, raised in North Carolina, Kimberly L. Becker is a member of Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers and is of Cherokee/Celtic/Teutonic descent. She is the author of two poetry collections, Words Facing East (WordTech Editions, 2011) and The Dividings (WordTech Editions, 2014). Individual poems appear widely in journals and anthologies. Other published writing includes fiction, essays, reviews, and a series of interviews with other Native writers. Current projects include adapting traditional Cherokee stories into plays for the Cherokee Youth in Radio Project at the Cherokee Youth Center in Cherokee, North Carolina. Kimberly has been awarded grants from the New Jersey State Arts Council, the Montgomery County Arts and Humanities Council (Maryland), as well as a fellowship to the Hambidge Artist Residency Program in the North Georgia mountains. She has held an Individual Artist Award in Poetry from the Maryland State Arts Council and been Writer-in-Residence at Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities (North Carolina). She has been a featured reader at many venues, including "Native Writers in DC" at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. She is happiest within sight of the mountains.
www.kimberlylbecker.com

Sky Woman

Kimberly L. Becker, Poet

River, Blood, And Corn Literary Journal: A Community of Voices