JUST BEING: Poems
A Place to Breathe
Christine Hartman Derr
Off the path,
behind some trees,
a clearing sits
and waits for me.
A forest symphony,
a place for finding tohi.
Here
I can simply be
simply breathe,
find a way
back to me.
Those hateful words,
that awful silence
recedes in waves
until it’s quiet.
The clouds drift by
the sun softens
leaves whisper comforting words
a language maybe I used to know.
“Wado, detlugv,” I thank the trees.
Next the grass, the bees.
“Wado, ganolvvsgv,”
gratitude for wind, for breezes.
“Wado, unelvnvhi,”
gratitude in a whisper to Creator
for feeling wrapped in that precious, neverending ancestor love
for this world, this clearing, this moment.
A twig snaps
Two pairs of eyes
watch me, watching them.
A doe and her fawn
hover on the edge of the small clearing.
They take me in,
weigh my soul–
then stay,
nibbling at a bush.
They feel safe.
So do I.
That’s when I know
we’ll be alright.
Christine Hartman Derr is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children & Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She runs the website PawPrintsInTheSink.com and is a contributor to an upcoming YA anthology from Heartdrum.
This resource is no cost at https://open.library.okstate.edu/justya/