Hello Friends,
The poetry of Simon J. Ortiz is rooted in the oral traditions of the Acoma Pueblo Indians — so you may want to read today’s poem out loud. “Culture and the Universe” can be found in Ortiz’s 2002 collection Out There Somewhere.
Enjoy.
— Ellen
Two nights ago
in the canyon darkness,
only the half-moon and stars,
only mere men.
Prayer, faith, love,
existence.
by vastness beyond ourselves.
Dark is light.
Stone is rising.
I don’t know
if humankind understands
culture: the act
of being human
is not easy knowledge.
With painted wooden sticks
and feathers, we journey
into the canyon toward stone,
a massive presence
in midwinter.
We stop.
The universe
sings in quiet meditation.
We are wordless:
Without knowing why
culture needs our knowledge,
we are one self in the canyon.
I lean upon spins me
wordless and silent
to the reach of stars
and to the heavens within.
It’s not humankind after all
nor is it culture
that limits us.
It is the vastness
we do not enter.
It is the stars
we do not let own us.
■