before an enthralled crowd, one anishinabe man

explains the art of another; this copper thunderbird

this morrisseau, the price he paid for vision, this gift

with which he won for all of us a way to see

that this land is rightly the nesting ground of binasi

thunderbird. i sit in the back and wonder, so this

is what it feels like, one’s own culture centred

relaxing, unrolling crackling lines of connection.

megwetch, miigwech, meegwich, chi megwetch.