Ceremony for Completing a Poetry Reading, by Chrystos
This is a give-away poem
You have come gathering
You have made a circle with me
of the places where I have wandered
I want to give you the first daffodil opening from the earth I have sown
to give you warm loaves of bread
baked in soft mounds like breasts
In this circle I pass each of you a shell from our mother sea
Hold it in your spirit & hear the stories she will tell you
I have wrapped your faces around me, a warm robe
Let me give you ribbonwork leggings, dresses sewn with elk teeth
moccasins woven with red & sky blue porcupine quilts
I give you blankets woven of flowers & roots
Come closer
I have more to give this basket is very large
I have stitched it of your kind words
Here is a necklace of feathers & bone
a sacred meal of choke cherries
Take this mask of bark which keeps out the evil ones
This basket is only the beginning
There is something in my arms for all of you
I offer you
this memory of sunrise seen through ice crystals
Here, an afternoon of looking into the sea from high rocks
Here, a red-tailed hawk circling over our heads
One of its feathers drops for your hair
May I give you this round stone which holds an ancient spirit
This stone will soothe you
Within this basket is something you have been looking for
all of your life
Come take it
Take as much as you want
I give you seeds of a new way
I give the moon shining on a fire of singing women
I give you the sound of our feet dancing
I give you the sound of our thoughts flying
I give you the sound of peace
moving into our faces & sitting down
Come
this is a give away poem
I cannot go home
until you have taken everything
and the basket which held it
When my hands are empty
I will be full
You have come gathering
You have made a circle with me
of the places where I have wandered
I want to give you the first daffodil opening from the earth I have sown
to give you warm loaves of bread
baked in soft mounds like breasts
In this circle I pass each of you a shell from our mother sea
Hold it in your spirit & hear the stories she will tell you
I have wrapped your faces around me, a warm robe
Let me give you ribbonwork leggings, dresses sewn with elk teeth
moccasins woven with red & sky blue porcupine quilts
I give you blankets woven of flowers & roots
Come closer
I have more to give this basket is very large
I have stitched it of your kind words
Here is a necklace of feathers & bone
a sacred meal of choke cherries
Take this mask of bark which keeps out the evil ones
This basket is only the beginning
There is something in my arms for all of you
I offer you
this memory of sunrise seen through ice crystals
Here, an afternoon of looking into the sea from high rocks
Here, a red-tailed hawk circling over our heads
One of its feathers drops for your hair
May I give you this round stone which holds an ancient spirit
This stone will soothe you
Within this basket is something you have been looking for
all of your life
Come take it
Take as much as you want
I give you seeds of a new way
I give the moon shining on a fire of singing women
I give you the sound of our feet dancing
I give you the sound of our thoughts flying
I give you the sound of peace
moving into our faces & sitting down
Come
this is a give away poem
I cannot go home
until you have taken everything
and the basket which held it
When my hands are empty
I will be full