WEBVTT

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This piece is-- when
that tale was actually

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assigned-- the topic was
assigned to me under a project

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from the Sonora Desert Museum.

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And we were given a plant name.

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Or we actually were given
a list of desert plants,

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and we were asked
to choose a plant

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and write a piece on the plant.

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And I chose the creosote.

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In O'odham it's called--

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well, I call it Ṣeṣgei, and
other O'odham have a similar

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word for it as well.

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"Creosote, or Greasewood."

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"Like a story that never ends,
a song stuck in your head,

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a rainstorm disturbs
the settled words.

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They move in a breeze.

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A waxy sheen glistens
and creates a passage.

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Breathe.

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Ṣeṣgei, s-ap u:w The aroma
of the story embeds itself

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in our memory like the
pain of a broken heart,

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a memory cut fresh
by as summer rain.

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Ṣeṣgei ku:bs kekaj 'o e-kulañmad.
An g e-kulañmad,

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e-mo'o 'an c an e-gekkio,
kc e-hon, c e-kakkio, we:sko.

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Tt hab masma hab 'o t-wuad.
T-kulañmad.

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With the
smoke, we are healed.

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Heads, shoulders, legs,
the mind, the entire body,

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we are whole again.

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The smoke permeates the skin.

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With the slightest
sign of moisture,

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we will be moved
to tell a story."

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