the old cherokee

for my grandmother, alvia

Grandma guided the blade.

Her gnarled fingers curled the handle.

The great depression stationed her thumb

As the brown skin shed in a spiral strip.

"Don't peel away the potato."

Her voice broke a silence with 

What was passed down to her,

And her words dripped like pearls and bounced 

Around my sister looking curiously,

Cross legged below her apron strings,

Underfoot;

Watching grandma guide the knife,

Toying with the pearls 

And tucking them into her pockets.

I snapped beans and wondered where the old Cherokee went

To smell the rain,  

To hear the future in wind-song.

Grandma's Cherokee eyes made transparent walls;

Constantly keen to the baby's location

Moving in her sleep.

My mind wandered outside

Where the squirrels barked in the pines,

And crows walked on two feet

When I noticed grandma's Cherokee ears 

Perk as the baby sighed.

I was still learning 

To hear the things

That had never called to me,

Those things that had never wished to be heard,

To smell the rain before it came,

And watch the sky.

Grandma dropped the skins 

Into a brown paper bag

Feeling everything

Below her worn Cherokee skin

And her warm thin Cherokee smile.

Reviews

[Gypsy Warrior Queen]

These pieces transport me through your soul. These are the words and sights, I hear and see as the horses are galloping down that valley....ever in a hurry to get to them before they disappear.

[Beccy]

This is just bliss to read. Your pen is assured as the artist's brush, it brings life to the written word and this is a true privilege to read.

Those words 'don't peel away the potato,' remind me of the stories my grandma used to tell my sister and I about the rationing after the second world war. Four ounces of bacon or ham, one fresh egg a week, and vegetables and fruit so scarce that there was never enough. But she, like so many others, bore the hardships stoically and her stories of those times hold wisdom that I shall cherish always.

Thank you for sharing.

Beccy.

[Bright Ocean Star]

Xavier, this is a beautiful tribute to your grandmother. You captured her image, both mentally and physically perfectly and with great sensitivity. Awesome write!

[Alfred Kukitz]

Silver I can always count on you for some beautifully felt song in your words. It's as though you possess an alphabet in your soul and you bring them out for some breathing room. The line about the crows walking on two feet. I see it often here. There's a kind of rarity in a bird on foot, almost like a fairy tale. Thanks!

[Michael G. Smith]

Very heart warming piece. I could see my chippewa grandmother Randall in the old woman's eyes. She would sit at the table for hours picking through wild rice or stringing beads.

[Benita-Staebell M - Kin..]

This reminds me of my Great, Great grandma never meet her
but learned of her and stories she was Cherokee and Spanish
little 4'8 woman in height and a fireball and loving and sweet
very wise and aware woman.


I am Cherokee from my mother and father side of
the family and I look it very much so I loved this really touched
my heart was like my grandma was here but since there is Cherokee
in my great grandma I did see her when she was living she was a wild
grandma and little like this at times and I broke beans and pealed
ears of corn when I was little we ate fresh vegetables when I was little.



You took me back to my Cherokee Roots and being a child
thank you for this walk back into time I heard so many stories
about my G G Grandma her name was Alice Pearl I believe it was
Alice I know her middle name was pearl thought it was so beautiful.


Thank you for sharing this amazingly
written piece.


Blessings. Benita/ kindred poet

[Delmar Cooper]

Really good. Not so much about a Cherokee, but so much about a human being.

[h d e rushin]

love this. What we call Christianity or spiritual belief, to the Indian is an integral and
seemless part of their being. My grandmother, standing in her small kitchen in Georgia,
told me a story of a ghost that had invaded the underside of the house and had to be
removed my agressive uncles with broom handles and smoke. I mention this because
it is the spiritual that drives the culture (cant enable it but can prolong it) and what
your grandma was doing was passing her spiritual beliefs onto you in the only visceral way
she knew how.

wonderful story telling my friend.
just wonderful.

dana

[lee von cleef]

One of five, a "Civilized Tribe", to anticipate a rhythm, a late night Stomp Dance helps the blood flow,and the gaps of a generation , Million Dollars Goldwater wanted to give all the living and wash the culture away, but your Grand mother let the pocket fill with pearls,Poker face, Dry lined humor, wit lived in dark eyed woman ,to let the red dust blow, bowl an fill a heart as you have is mortar for my heart.