Grieving Tree
Grieving tree
It has been generations
since we have carved our losses in the
grieving tree's thick skin
asked it to share the burden of our sorrow
when the numbers grew
too many to count across our fingers
too overwhelming to record in other ledgers
markings by the thousands
form bands of memory
as they grow toward the canopy
There are so many
who are making a mark for the first time
startled by how quickly the sharp knife cuts through flesh
by the weeping of fresh wounds in bark
dripping down onto the tender objects scattered among the roots
a cane no longer needed
a button cut from a favorite sweater
a child's ribbon
a pair of matched wedding rings
the mingling of flesh and spirit offerings
bearing witness to this season
Jenny L. Davis
contents of issue 12
Mask
M. Carmen Lane
Jenny L. Davis Biography
Jenny L. Davis (Chickasaw)
she/her
Interim Director, American Indian Studies
Chancellor’s Fellow of Indigenous Research & Ethics
Assistant Professor of Anthropology & American Indian Studies
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
https://anthro.illinois.edu/directory/profile/loksi
Author of Talking Indian: Identity and Language Revitalization in the Chickasaw Renaissance https://uapress.arizona.edu/book/talking-indian
