all of it

 

tilt your head

view this place with soft eyes.

see it?

it’s the place we began:

the womb of our Mother,

soft and warm like a sweat lodge door.

 

are we arriving (ni-maaja*)?

or departing (dgoshin)?

or returning (bskaabi)?

 

many say it’s all of them

and none of them.

(c)r. l. elke

*these words are in the language of my Ancestors: Nishnaabemowin