Engussi Wedzin Kwah
She is my healer
a consoling friend
a life giver, a grandmother
a sister to the ancient ones
she heard the songs and touched the skin
of the original Wet’suwet’en
sacred knowledge in every drop
but we forgot
we try to listen with our ears
time has made us deaf to her
there’s too much background noise
the smog is in our souls
Engussi Wedzin Kwah
shhhhhhhhhhhh….. can you hear her cry for you?
I need a job, I need a new car
I just bought an eco-friendly travel mug from *fill
in the blank*… it’s funny right?
the love of my life is not my cell phone
a flat screen tv or my shoes
Engussi Wedzin Kwah!
I don’t need to tell you how beautiful she is
how her clear blue/green sparkles in the sun
or how her glacial currents take your breath away
and jumps starts your soul and every cell in your body
how her voice sings you alive
this isn’t that kind of love poem
Let’s get back to listening…..
What are the names of your rivers?
Can you hear them inside you?
Let’s resurrect those words together
ALL our words, all at once
I want to feel all those hard and soft sounds
hitting me at the same time
just let me absorb the words of our ancestors
like Wedzin Kwah
but I’m not a river
I am a Wet’suwet’en woman
and my purpose is clear
Like ancient protocol and boundaries
I’ll show you where the line is
we were born her guardians
warriors watch over Wedzin Kwah
poem: Jennifer Wickham, Gidumt’en of the Wet’suwet’en
