Page 191 - Dark Matter:Women Witnessing Issue #3 - December 2015

Dark Matter: Women Witnessing - December, 2015 Issue #3 - EXTINCTION / DEVOTION

The night before, on a different kind of journey, the pounding of the drum led me out of these sage-

scented hills to the top of a snow-covered Apu. There I met Bird Spirit, a swirl of purple-black, and

Puma Spirit, tawny paws crossed in front of her. They did not care for many of my questions or

requests for guidance. Irrelevant, they responded. Not our concern. Bird spit on the ground. But they

knew what they wanted. Bird wanted birdseed scattered in the hills. Puma wanted blood—the bone

buried in my yard—and a liberal dose of alcohol poured on top.

To them both, I swore my devotion to the story I have been given to carry. I offered up my pago —to

pay attention—perhaps the most sacred of currencies in this age of distraction. I promised to tend the

story as I tend my children, to stay on the path until the journey is complete. Bird and Puma were not

impressed. They expected nothing less.

Rebecca Brams is a writer and mother to two young boys in Berkeley,

California. She grew up in California’s Mojave Desert and has traveled

extensively in Latin America. She has a B.A. in Anthropology from Stanford

University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from St. Mary’s College of

California. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have been published in Carve

Magazine, Literary Mama and on blogs, including her own,

www.thismamawrites.com.

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