Yanash Kulli *

Excerpted from Constant Fires by Rebecca Hatcher Travis

Yanash Kulli *

alone on the pathway

ancient spirits 

beckon deeper

into the wooded land

grandfather trees

guide the way

bowing in majestic arcs

peace and silence here

deeper still

to the sacred stone circle

to the healing waters

hidden inside the forest

a private stillness here

but for a trickle over the stones

an extraordinary place

do you feel its secret?

up from within the heart of the earth

sparkling cool waters

bubble since time unknown

the spring gently bestows its gift

stones capture the bounty

hold it as tiny creatures

skim across the surface

water flees over the rocks

across the land

among the ancient trees

and whispering wind

into the rivers to the great sea

Grandmother watches

she sings her blessed song

Yanash Kulli

bubbles on

* Buffalo Springs

© Rebecca Hatcher Travis. All rights reserved.

Rebecca Hatcher Travis is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation who carries deep roots in both Indian Territory Oklahoma and Texas. Her first poetry book, Picked Apart the Bones, won the First Book Award from the Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas and was published by the Chickasaw Press. 

Her second poetry book, Constant Fires, was released by White Dog Press, a division of Chickasaw Press, in October, 2017. Other published work appears in literary journals, anthologies, online and recently in Tending the Fire, Native Voices and Portraits. Ms. Travis is a member of Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers. She lives in the foothills of the Arbuckle Mountains of Oklahoma, near the land her ancestors settled in early Indian Territory days. She continues to write and give poetry presentations.

chickasawpress.com/Authors/Rebecca-Hatcher-Travis