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I was a raven once
bumping along on two legs
blundering around in the dark
talking Raven talk

I was enigmatic

I was a hemlock needle once
floating down the stream
waiting to see
who might swallow me

I was enigmatic

I was a young woman once
filled with wonder, attitude,
and
matriarchal potential

I was enigmatic

Then I was a pregnant young woman
filled with wonder, attitude,
and a womb full of
growing child

We were enigmatic

Just as one becomes two,
remember this is true:
Raven brings agency
and misunderstanding

And agency is quite enigmatic

Because agency
is the action that changes
landscapes over time
like water through a canyon

And landscapes of the mind are enigmatic

When Trickster becomes kin,
is a good space to begin ...
with the future rarely clear
and end times always near

By the
moon,
stars,
and Sun,

At
least
we have
perspective

And perspective is forever enigmatic
With thanks to the ODD Gallery, Tara Rudnickas, and Krystle Silverfox for supporting the impetus to create: https://kiac.ca/odd-gallery/current-exhibition/

"Perspective work helps us understand the needs of people who see and work in ways that we don’t understand" Elaine Alec

It is with humility that I attempt to unpack the NW Coast story of how Raven Steals the Light.

With this work, my thought was to step the reader through a hero's journey of sorts. Can you recognize the call to action in How Raven Steals the Light?
peacholivet Oct 2021
I always wondered
Who made the clear blue sky
And exhibited goosebumps
When the moon and stars appeared at night
The highest mountain and the deepest valley
Who made them all so perfectly?
I entered grandma’s large room
To get answers to my questions
And there she was, sleeping soundly
Breathing the morning away
I sat close to her big brown bed
Sitting and watching her beautiful face
I also wanted to ask her
Who made her pretty face?
At last she awoke, Quamin she called
As she turned and sat on the bed
Grandma it’s me Amba I said
As I struggled to sit on her bed
Granny seemed not to make us out at all
When her glasses lay idle somewhere
Oh my! she exclaimed apologetically
As she brushed her feeble hands through my hair
How may I help you my little angel?
She asked with smiling eyes
Grandma I want to know from you
Who made the world so beautifully?
She smiled at me and whispered to me
Only my small ear could hear
His name is God was what I heard
Neither once nor twice but thrice
Her words and the truth sounded so true
I smiled as though I knew this God
I told her I wanted us to visit God
So I could give him fruits and pie
She drew me closer and closer to her
with her two giant and feeble arms
And told me that God is here
I was amazed to hear this again and again
She told me God is everywhere
Omnipresent is the word she used
And mentioned other Omni words
She told me there is a creation story
And promised to tell me the story at night
While I rested in her warm embrace
I knew grandma was the best
Even more amazing is the faithful God we serve
The day and night he made on the first day
And the wide sky on the second day
On the third day he created the land and grass
The sun moon and stars came fourth
On the fifth day fishes and birds appeared
Animals and humans he made on the sixth day
He rested on the blessed seventh day
And saw that what he created was good
Oh! The charming creation story she told
Is the greatest story indeed!
creation story
The Serpent squeezes the mundane egg, for a moment in time,
…to begin the ages, turn the wheel, and so begin the rhyme,

The circus has commenced, a dancing, swirling motion,
…a pit of ghastly horrors, seen as a vast deep ocean,
…or celestial or cosmic, as some would have the notion.

Some of them were large, although some were also small,
…and grotesquely figured or disfigured, a scary monster’s ball,
…and trudging, stampeding, stomping or slithering down the hall.

There they danced, sang or prattled, where giants fought and where they battled, …thunder unto heroes rattled, with awful screams so frightening, and terrifying lightning!

Scaly, hairy or feathered, wet and fiery or weathered,
…conjoined, twisted or tethered, slithery writhing together,

Kingu and his wife, some say it was t’was his mother,
…his plan was war and strife, pitting brother against brother,

A ******* existence and so morally depraved,
…a state of sickly persistence, they found themselves enslaved.

Then abounding voice of heaven, that divided night by day,
…brought forth a princely king of Luke; the warrior Marduk.

Fourteen engaged in combat, the one against thirteen,
…and thus aligned with the ecliptic, at night they can be seen,  

Sloshing in the Apsu, beaten with the club,
…slain and torn to pieces, cutting channels of their blood,

A north wind sent them to their places, fixed on Tiamat’s wheel,
…and the starry constellations, did Marduk bring to heel.
The Sumerian story of creation is the source of St. John's Apocalypse and it is the story of the Dragon Tiamat and her unholy son, Kingu, who go to war with the earth and are defeated by the son of god, the son of the Sun itself(Marduk). "Marduk," means, "High Prince," but signifies west, shining and high as-in the heavens. West was used as a moniker or symbol for the sun since it rested each day in it's kingdom in the west.

The, "one against thirteen," means the Sun versus the twelve signs of the Zodiac and space itself or the Dragon. It is an ancient term.

— The End —