Presenting the poetry, books, and photographs of Nancy Wood, 1936-2013
From Hollering Sun, 1972, by Nancy Wood
Earth woman with hands
That shape the bread of time.
Earth woman with
Pumpkin-seed earrings and
Bracelets of wild plum.
Your house is made of summer.
Your children are the crops
Of all good seasons
Growing strong
In the house of earth woman
Who weaves the thread of life.
Never shall I leave the places that I love;
Never shall they go from my heart
Even though my eyes
Are somewhere else.
Time takes me on its wing
and I travel to the sun
And am consumed by fire.
Time takes me on its wing
and I travel to the river
And am drowned in water.
Time takes me on its wing
And I travel into the earth
And am a mountain not yet risen.
Each place that I go
Others have gone before me.
That is why
The sun dances
The wind weeps
The river leaps
And the earth sings.
Neither the sun nor the wind
The river nor the earth
Did these things
Before man was placed in the world
To believe it.
Blue lake of life from which flows everything good.
We rejoice with the spirits beneath your waters.
The lake and the earth and the sky
Are all around us.
The voices of many gods
Are all within us.
We are now as one with rock and tree
As one with eagle and crow
As one with deer and coyote
As one with all things
That have been placed here by the Great Spirit.
The sun that shines upon us
The wind that wipes our faces clean of fear
The stars that guide us on this journey
To our blue lake of life
We rejoice with you.
In beauty it is begun.
In beauty it is begun.
In peace it is finished.
In peace it shall never end.
My brother the star, my mother the earth, my father the sun, my sister the moon, to my life give beauty, to my body give strength, to my corn give goodness, to my house give peace, to my spirit give truth, to my elders give wisdom.