Page 19 - Dark Matter:Women Witnessing Issue2

When Earth Becomes an “It”5

Robin W. Kimmerer

Let us begin with gratitude, for we are showered every day with the gifts of the Earth. Megwech to one

another as people, for the privilege of being in one anothers’ company, for this beautiful day, for being

whole and healthy and surrounded by the companionship of oaks and grasses, butterflies and fog.

Gratitude for the Coast Miwok people in whose homelands we meet. And for the gifts, the everyday

miracles with which we are showered every day.

At a literary conference, it is important to honor together the deep roots of the oral tradition and so let

me start with a story, an old story.

In the beginning, there was the Skyworld, where people lived much as they do here on Earth, raising

their families, raising their gardens, walking in the forest. And in that forest grew the great Tree of Life,

on which grew all kinds of fruits and berries and medicines on a single tree. One day, a great windstorm

blew down the tree and opened at its base a huge hole in the ground where its roots had pulled up.

Being curious like all of us, a beautiful young woman whom we call Gizhkokwe, or Skywoman, went

over to have a look. She stood at the edge and looked down, but could see nothing for it was entirely

dark below, so she stepped a little farther and the edge of the hole began to crumble beneath her feet.

She reached out to stop herself by grabbing on to the fallen tree, but the branch broke off in her hand.

She fell like a maple seed pirouetting on an autumn breeze. A column of light streamed from a hole in

the Skyworld, marking her path where only darkness had been before. But in that emptiness there

were many gazing up at the sudden shaft of light. They saw there a small object, a mere dust mote in

the beam. As it grew closer, they could see that it was a woman, arms outstretched, long black hair

billowing behind as she spiraled toward them.

5
Keynote address, Geography of Hope conference, March 2015. A portion of this talk was published in the Spring 2015
issue of YES! Magazine. See also Robin Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the

Teachings of Plants (Minneapolis,MN: Milkweed Editions, 2013), pp. 3-­‐10 and pp. 48-­‐59

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