Page 14 - Savoring

Marianne Murphy Zarzana
CLEAR WATER WOMAN (mné bleyzela win)
When the wind lifted
my long, sleek black hair,
I laughed, ran through tall grass, pictured myself flying,
winged, far beyond the rez.
When the wind whistled through the tall spires of pines, I stopped and listened
in a green Lakota cathedral beyond this world man made.
When the wind opened
its doors, beckoned, ready, I joined the Navy, left
Pine Ridge to travel
far beyond on open seas.
When the wind carried
me home, I donned hard hat, steel-tipped boots, became
a windsmith, climbed towers
of turbines, high above the earth.
When the wind slaps my body now, cold and soaking, though
the guys say women are only good enough for detail work, I see
far beyond their horizons.
When the wind spins
tapered blades, rising row
upon row, I measure speed, flow, harness energy to a grid unseen beyond this geography.
12