Jan 11  Some of the daily readings in the Red Road book offer great writing inspiration and some, while still interesting, do not provide a spark for my own poem. Today’s is such a day. For those, I either go back to the introduction or, as I will today, look to another book I am currently reading, Spirits of the Earth, by Bobby Lake-Thom, which is a guide to Native American Nature Symbols, Stories and Ceremonies.

Since taking a poetry workshop with Albert Dumont some years ago, I have been intrigued by the spirituality of the First Nations peoples. Albert Dumont http://albertdumont.com/ is a Poet, Storyteller, Speaker, and an Algonquin Traditional Teacher. He was born and raised in traditional Algonquin territory (Kitigan Zibi).

“There are ancient secrets and lessons hidden in Nature… In the old days our elders taught us stories and secrets about Nature while singing songs around the lodge fire.”

When man encroaches on habitats of the wild things,
we do not hear them raise voices in protest.
Instead, we protest that they trespass on us.

We are the violent species, we are the ones
that take what is not ours to take.
Other species kill for food and for survival.

We are the ones who slaughter what is not
of our kind. Which is the savage beast,
which the more entitled to survive?
CAS Jan 11 2015