10.06.2022 Views

The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions

by Paula Gunn Allen

by Paula Gunn Allen

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here? Shall I go<br />

mumbl<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>to my knees?<br />

Shall I sleep<br />

through <strong>the</strong> handgame<br />

gambl<strong>in</strong>g my dreams?<br />

Shall I back up bare-assed<br />

aga<strong>in</strong>st <strong>the</strong> mesquite?<br />

Shall I cast myself<br />

a spell<br />

to be born aga<strong>in</strong><br />

not as a Christian girl<br />

but as a Bear Clan boy<br />

dest<strong>in</strong>ed to be loved,<br />

fullblooded and fluent,<br />

truly Hopi<br />

and useful, holder<br />

of a sacred trust?<br />

Shall I lean toward earth<br />

from space like this<br />

or miss myself<br />

float<strong>in</strong>g by,<br />

surround myself<br />

with deceptively<br />

white moons? 13<br />

In poems that speak to her dispossession, as <strong>in</strong> most of her<br />

work, Rose ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>s a clear, steady, spiritual basis. She often<br />

fur<strong>the</strong>rs her po<strong>in</strong>t with spirit-based imagery, so that <strong>the</strong> thrust of<br />

her work moves steadily toward a nonmaterial, nonsocial, and<br />

nonpolitical significance. <strong>The</strong> social, political, <strong>in</strong>terpersonal,<br />

and personal images and statements she forms become<br />

metaphors for spirit-<strong>in</strong>fused consciousness—a thrust toward<br />

unit<strong>in</strong>g fragmented elements of her life that she shares with <strong>the</strong>

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