Rabbit and Rose

beaded rabbit

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

Hopeful
Bobby Coleman

Ancient Greek Study of the Pomegranate
Katie Aliferis

Interior
Clara Hsu

Mask
M. Carmen Lane

triangles and other polygons
Morgan L. Green

Your softness matters so much right now
Zoe Todd

Grieving Tree
Jenny L. Davis


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


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