Private Rituals

Abstract

62 WLT MAY–AUGUST 2017 livingston : gabriel padhilha Private Rituals by Shauna Osborn between landscape and the female body: earth sand stones plants flowers blood a silhouette digging molding carving space visible & tactile between the body and the land: one obsessive act female force after-image within the womb optical indexes memory-traces ancient stone circles individual desires splendid imperative like Cézanne’s apples – satisfied not static subjective earth what desire Shauna Osborn is an award-winning Numunuu (Comanche) / German mestiza artist, researcher, and wordsmith. Her debut poetry collection is called Arachnid Verve. She was recently named national director of the Native Writers’Circle of the Americas.You can find her online at shaunamosborn.wordpress.com. What Shivers Since the Wheel Forgave Us by Chip Livingston Our stuck tongues screamed louder In Alabama, words hung in a rhythm Reservation hands could basket Tied back rocks rose, picked Tarnished cigarettes unsupervised Between tucked tobacco choruses The stick figure beautifully contorted Across drum and caught motioning Toward a post authentic Grinning the undressed words To out-sparked historians Trading them the dance we packed For breakfast, hands out-fished Bent past our crane feathers And Oklahoma over there imagined Stretched and carved and reported Magic from god dollars Thought + thought + thought No promised sounds abundant Bays silent, the rinsed spirit singing Chip Livingston is the author of the novel Owls Don’t Have to Mean Death (Lethe, 2017); a story and essay collection, Naming Ceremony; and two poetry volumes, CrowBlue , Crow-Black and Museum of False Starts. Chip teaches in the MFA programs at the Institute of American Indian Arts and Regis University. cover feature new native writing ...