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

Fresh Wildness

By Rebecca Hatcher Travis

imbedded in every native heart

is love of land

this earth we stand on

live on

our homeland

among first memories

a part of us

like our own bodies

we know the connection

sweet *petrichor brings flashes

of childhood pleasures

we will always treasure

tender as flesh

her whipping winds

thunder rumbling

dust and rains

trembling darkness

heart-melting blueness above

our Mother

draws us outdoors

to fresh wildness

where we belong

in our special place on

this wondrous earth

*petrichor:  smell of rain

Copyright © 2016, Rebecca Hatcher Travis. All rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rebecca Hatcher Travis, an enrolled citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, often writes of her indigenous heritage and the beauty of the natural world. Her poetry book manuscript, 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 work has appeared in numerous anthologies, literary journals and online. Ms. Travis is a member of Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers and lives in south central Oklahoma, near the land her ancestors settled in Indian Territory days. She is currently working on another book of poetry and continues to give poetry presentations at Oklahoma venues.

On Native Ground

By Rebecca Hatcher Travis

like old men

faithfully bent over

their constant fires

hazy blue hills

work their way toward me

chock full of spirits

of ceremony

traveling through countryside

snuggled against vast prairies

still bearing the dust

of the buffalo

I cross over

cool wooded territory

that sinks into valleys

and climbs to meet the sun

on the other side

brimming with our history

the old ones retell

their stories so well

we stay late to hear them

over and over

until they live

within our hearts

once we settled here anew 

now roots grow deep

in this land too

when I stand

on native ground

my heart knows

I am home

First published in Sunday Evening Poem series, Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers. 

Copyright © Rebecca Hatcher Travis. All rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rebecca Hatcher Travis, an enrolled citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, often writes of her indigenous heritage and the beauty of the natural world. Her poetry book manuscript, 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 work has appeared in numerous anthologies, literary journals and online. Ms. Travis is a member of Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers and lives in south central Oklahoma, near the land her ancestors settled in Indian Territory days. She is currently working on a new book of poetry.

Picked Apart the Bones

Rebecca Hatcher Travis bases the poems in this exquisite collection on memories of her Chickasaw family and the Oklahoma landscapes that surrounded her as a child. Her poems also serve as testimonies to the ancestors who have passed on to the next life. 

Picked Apart the Bones won the 2006 First Book Award for Poetry from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rebecca Hatcher Travis, an enrolled citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, often writes of her indigenous heritage and the beauty of the natural world. 

Her poetry book manuscript, 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 work has appeared in numerous anthologies, literary journals and online. Ms. Travis is a member of Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers and lives in south central Oklahoma, near the land her ancestors settled in Indian Territory days. She is currently working on a new book of poetry