The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions

that moss will recede—that remark
made to remember the roots.
trace the roots from the branches
from the leaves
each word floats caught
suspended in time
will reveal energy connected ancestors
moved through each syllable selected
more living breath through the line. 16
As the work of these five women shows, the lives of Indian
women in America are multidimensional. The breakup of ancient
orders of life, the change in custom and language occasioned by
the vast change in lifestyle, white education and occupation,
social structures and ritual life have left tribal life in shambles.
But the fragmentation of consciousness that might be expected to
result from this massive cultural breakdown is a surface
breakdown.
Indians are remarkably resilient, and their ways are
remarkably durable. And while the white government and
churches have made it their business for centuries to assimilate
Indians into American life, Indian values, perceptions, and
understandings have clung tenaciously to life, informing the work
of writers and artists as they inform the lives of all Indian people
in the United States today. Certainly, our ancient bond to the land
and to the spirit world is in large part responsible for this
tenacity, and the strength of spirit presence speaks powerfully in
all the works of contemporary American Indian writers.
There is a permanent wilderness in the blood of an Indian, a
wilderness that will endure as long as the grass grows, the wind
blows, the rivers flow, and one Indian woman remains alive.