INDIGENOUS | Indigenous Retelling & Telling

from Fire and October

Sections from a poetry action. I wrote every day in 2023, primarily on subjects involving disenfranchisement and the environment.
from Fire and October Original Art by Kakoli Mitra: ‘Pulls apart along the seams an imaginary friend,’ digital (2024).

Wrapped in sacred numbers and

Who will count the

Individual flames this season a

Desperate fortune telling the

String held between hands

Potential burning we 

Release one 

Loop at a time to 

See who the new 

Child will be a

Different burning time the

Fuel piled against

Remembering trees and

Ancestor blood the 

Crack and crack of each

Year marker here in the 

Controlled the

Stone rimmed 

Here near the story telling 

Danger the

Twitch and 

Fret of things learned

Hard that

Cups and sings in a 

Longtime contract time

Pulls apart along the seams an 

Imaginary friend

author Kim Shuck (she) was the 7th Poet Laureate of San Francisco, California, United States.
author_affiliation Europe, Indigenous North America | Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma
residence United States
organizational