I pinch your silences into soft whispers, pile them on your still chest —

We look inward and feel the world, and then somehow there’s a vibration happening—I’m always humbled by poetry’s ability to shock me and make me feel that there’s a bigger story here, that as poets we summon this from a river that’s already flowing and sing this into being.

back there — I can feel the faces of wolves.

I write best when I return from visiting my family on the reservation. The journey home feeds my creative process. I move between language, history, and worldviews—it’s always the place between that gives me the most insight into my creative process.

The dark before me—unfolded from bead-pressed earth, sparkles, groans, whistles,                                                           I breathe it in.

I sensed the knife in your past, its sharp edge shanked from the canyon stream —

Title: Flood Song Author: Sherwin Bitsui Publication Date: November 2009 Publisher: Copper Canyon Press Genre: poetry