forage: waagaagin
black rocks sleep in secret
under our feet
holding quiet memories of a time before
we circle the lake
up on the clifftop among trees burnt by lightning
young ferns unfurling, you and i
your voice shimmers
like wind skipping across the water’s surface
we’re not really here, yet we are
children of the forest and sun
walking among berries yet to come
we live to bloom wild
like sunset-colored columbine
to the beat of an old drum
we gather
under a blanket of sky
we come to the lake to belong, to be free
ode/ode’
I.
with your medicine
we can talk with plants
in their own language
gleaming green resounding
in eardrums, throat, and heart
we sing to roots and chlorophyll
II.
open us wide like a spiderweb
stretching to all corners of the world
alive, enchanted, trembling
like shadow and snow
songbird and butterfly
mossy rock and stormy sea
III.
dance and remember
Cherolyn Kay Fischer is a second-generation water protector, parent, and musician who learned poetry from her mother. She writes to mend relationships with nature, honor ancestors, and make sense of the upside-down world we live in. Cherolyn has Anishinaabe and European heritage and lives in Mni Sóta Makoce / Minneapolis, MN.