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Taylor, Bruce (ed.) / Wisconsin poetry (special issue)
volume 79, No. 2
Whitman, Roberta H.
"This gift," "Continuance," "Beginning the year at Rosebud, S.D.," "Midwinter stars," "Lynn Point Trail," "In the longhouse, Oneida museum," and "A nation wrapped in stone", pp. 261-269
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Page 261
Roberta Hill Whitman This Gift Within me wind skims the leaves of sagebrush under a hot wide sky. I am more than horse, rider, hawk, earth and air. What shapes me, shapes you. I contain orenda flaring everywhere you look. The thick pulse of a spring night. The quick kiss of a winter daybreak. Within me chimeras of smoke leap the ridges of burning logs. Within me the hummingbird's blessing and the grizzly's wisdom take root and intertwine in the cliffs of your spirit. Such moments when beauty has seized you, think of me. I am a persona, the mask beneath each mask, the always arriving surf, the shadow singing toward sunlight, the stone blossoming in mid-air. Within me the full moon climbs the mountains of your homeland. for Ernie, Christmas, 1987 261
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Copyright 1991 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters.| For information on re-use, see http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/Copyright