Page 148 - Dark Matter:Women Witnessing Issue #3 - December 2015

this ground, to offer my attention to the conifers, the maples, the hay-scented fern, the bear, the

moose, rhubarb, the indigo.

I stand in this fledgling garden and say aloud the names of the places that hold my stories, in my

territory, my iworu. The sounds I make are barely whispers, tentative. I feel self-conscious. No one is

watching. Just the trees. I turn toward the white spruce and red maples and speak their names louder,

hearing my voice grow stronger with each one that comes.

Highland Place, West Corinth, Home

Lake Champlain. Red Rocks.

Winooski River. Huntington Gorge.

Colchester Point. Nebraska Notch.

Mount Mansfield. Bolton Mountain. Camel's Hump.

Salmon Hole. Wild River. Mount Osceola.

Pemigewassett River. South Kinsman. Three Ponds.

Grand Isle. Keeler Bay.

Hurricane Ridge. Moonstone Beach. Highland Place.