[On my way to Buffalo to celebrate
the life & work of Dennis Tedlock, with whom I founded Alcheringa in
1970 & launched what we were already calling ethnopoetics, I thought to
post this selection of his own poems which we were first able to show in the
pages of that magazine. Additional
poems from this series appeared earlier in Poems and Poetics, and
his original work in its entirety should, when it finally appears, add to his
reputation as an exemplary poet & ethnographer. His contribution to my own sense of poetry &
poetics was enormous. (J.R.)]
The
Year
First
comes
Broken
Branches Moon
the
snow is heavy
next
Snowless
Road Moon
it
snows
but
it doesn’t stick to the road
next
Little
Wind Moon
when
the snow is in patches
next
Big
Wind Moon
next
Nameless
Moon
next
Turnabout
Moon
next
Broken
Branches Moon
also
called Rooster Pull
the
time of the rodeo
next
Snowless
Road Moon
also
called Get-together
Look-at-one-another
next
Little
Wind Moon
next
Big
Wind Moon
also
called Pick-the-ears-of-corn
next
Nameless
Moon
when
they set the date for the dancers
next
Turnabout
Moon
All
these twelve together are called
time-surpasses-itself.
Winter
Solstice
Here
is the place of fear
for
four days
no
greasy foods are eaten
there
is no coffee
no
trade
all
places of business are closed
for
ten days
no
sweepings
no
garbage is taken out of the house
no
fire is taken out of the house
not
even cigarettes are lighted outside
people
shouldn’t use their cars
the
street lights are all turned out
this
is the middle of time.
Recipe
Fill
a bowl with hot water
add,
to taste:
dried
leaves of wild mint
ground
chili
onions
dried
chinchweed flowers
wolfberries
&
venison jerky.
This
is called
hot-bowl
it
is
an
ancient dish.
Cornshucking
Pull
down the husk
all
around
then
twist it all off at once
with
the stem
put
the dry ears in this pile
for
us
put
the damp ears
the
moldy ears in this one
for
the hogs
&
throw the shucks out there
some
of the ears are yellow
some
are blue
red
white
some
are pretty
the multicolored
ones
some
are black
look
for the Fully-Finished-Ear
without
a single kernel missing
right
to the very tip
a
deer, a buck
wears
that one on his breast
&
the Flat-Ear
with
a forked tip
a
doe wears that one on her breast
&
the Road-Ear
with
a groove down its whole length
runners
wear that one on their backs
now
here it is
a
Fully-Finished-Ear
but
it’s wet
I’ll
put it at the edge of the good pile
&
here is an ear
yellow,
but
each
kernel
is
tinged with red
it’s
sort of pretty
there’s
no name for this one
I’ll
put it here on the fence rail
maybe
I’ll do something with it later.
When
The Witches Are Out
On
the road at night
we
caught a deer in the headlights
he
didn’t know which way to go
he
came toward us
turning
left & right
in
the lights
we
stopped
he
cut left through the sunflowers
into
the dark
we
went up to the house
so
our nephew could get his rifle
on
our way back down the road
there
was another car coming
far
off
his
lights went out
we
rode all the way down past
where
the deer was
&
there was no deer
&
no car.
The
Two Of Them
The
Zuni
&
the anthropologist
walk
a narrow road
to
the tip of the mesa
to
see the Hopi Snake Dance
between
two sheer drops
the
Zuni says
to
the anthropologist
-
Both sides!
You
jump one way
& I’ll jump the other.
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