by Joy Harjo
I call my sisters to dress for the stomp dance
As all the little creatures hum and sing
in the thick grass around the grounds.
Lightning bugs are tiny stars
dancing in the river of dusk.
Our stomachs are full of meat and fry bread
and the talk of aunts and uncles.
Beautiful fire at the center of the dance
and the dusk has been lit.
We lace up our turtle shells so we
can dance into the circle.
And in this spirit world is the grocery
store over the hill, and all the houses,
the river, the sky, and the highway.
We have been here forever
say our mother, our father.
And this is the name we call ourselves
I tell my sisters,
this name that gives our legs the music
to shake the shells---
a name that is unspeakable
by those who disrespect us
---a name with power to thread us through
the dark to dawn
and leads us faithfully to the stars.
from How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems 1975-2001
by Joy Harjo
W. W. Norton and Company 2002
