Travelers Welcome

Travelers Welcome

Thursday, December 4, 2014

A Haida Dancer

by Craig Brandis

The Haida people live where the land
wants to end but can't quite.

Overturned by muscle,
I went there seeking new ways to see.

I found some of their daily wealth—
endless butter clams in the tide's outstretched arms.

On a linen nightstand for hungry daydreams,
I saw a longhouse fire in old Haida eyes peering back at me

with a stare that saw beyond the horizon
as an eagle dancer from a high-prowed war canoe.

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