Totem, poem

© harrington

Hi! Thanks for stopping by. The road side at the bottom and right edge of the photo is clearly snow free. Snow cover remains not only in the deepest dark forests, but also in the forest fringe where the sun's warm fingers can't easily massage the soil to warm it. It occurred to me this unsunny morning that I probably hadn't provided a context for Snyder's references to totems although we've been talking about his nature poetry points for almost a week now. That's unfortunate, since, if I had, I could have pointed out the linkage between totems and Minnesota. Among the tribes indigenous to Minnesota, the Ojibwe (Anishinaabe) are credited with providing their word (doodem) to the English language as totem. It's also probably time for me to discover how totems walked the path from clan symbols to spiritual helpers. I'll let you know what I learn.

Today's poem is the second part of the Prairie Grasses sequence that was a winner last year in the Writers Rising Up contest. [Full disclosure, I've recently joined their board.]

© harrington

SKY

                                    Have you

Soared where Gulf warmth meets Arctic chill
Known by hawk and hopper
Yielding showers and sun for forbs, sedges and grasses -- home to prairie

WIND

Thanks for listening and for sharing National Poetry Month with us. Come again. Rants, raves and reflections served daily.