the poetrysheet
whimsy, subversion, bowling
Number 497, May 14, 2004
Andrew Schelling
(1953- )
“First of all, it’s not my music. I was born into the world naked. I found it
here.”
—Hugh Masekela to a caller who asked Masekela to name his proudest
musical achievement, on WHYY’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, May 13, 2004
The
Hopi
The
Hopi Indian Agency lay in the bottom of a rocky ravine. It’s a sprawl of
flattish buildings, brick and concrete, with some saw grass and sagebrush
scattered around.
From
appearances, the Hopi don’t have much to do with the agency itself. Rather, the
People are spread across the three mesas above the agency. Their houses are
modern adaptations of the adobe pueblos that many of the People still inhabit—a
flat-roofed arrangement of apertured squares, generally with a pickup parked
beneath a car port. Many are bunched up around the three Mesas. Some are spread
out across the desert.
A
restaurant at the top of one of the Mesas is comfortable, the food good and
well prepared. Everyone working in the place is an Indian, presumably Hopi, and
they seem genuinely happy to see the customers, no matter what race or tribe.
The pop
there is ice cold and the place air-conditioned similar to a meat locker. Most
intriguing, the place is dark, which only highlights the incredibly beautiful
desertscape out a panorama of windows carefully shaded by the eaves of the
adobe building.
The
restaurant is carefully separated from the Mesa and the pueblo. The Hopi are
still, gracefully, very secretive people. But there is one revelation an
outsider gets about them from the restaurant that isn’t readily apparent racing
though the desert on the highway.
The
ancient and new among the Hopi share one architectural feature. The Mesa
pueblos, said to be hundreds and hundreds of years old, and the newer,
boxy-but-comfortable-looking houses all have satellite dishes.
By Tanis Caraway
Many significant things have changed.
taking over previous living by creating
a much broader and prosperous life.
Manifesting a radiant glow knowing you are loved.
Bringing comfort and compassion.
That genuinely warms your insides and
seeps through your skin.
Teaching you to accept yourself and others.
Things you never thought possible now exist!
How did that happen you ask?
Simple.
I've grown.
I've
grown to love this person more than myself.
Loving him is how I continue searching
for what will be my legacy.
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