WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.510 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.510 --> 00:00:04.470 align:middle line:84% So that's one of my favorite poems from the Southeast 00:00:04.470 --> 00:00:06.720 align:middle line:90% section. 00:00:06.720 --> 00:00:15.930 align:middle line:84% Moses Jumper is a Seminole poet, and the Seminole Nation is-- 00:00:15.930 --> 00:00:20.730 align:middle line:84% I don't know-- about 30 miles from my home in Ada, Oklahoma. 00:00:20.730 --> 00:00:25.320 align:middle line:84% So I pass by there when I'm home in the summers probably 00:00:25.320 --> 00:00:26.500 align:middle line:90% twice a week. 00:00:26.500 --> 00:00:31.110 align:middle line:84% And so the Southeastern section are 00:00:31.110 --> 00:00:36.060 align:middle line:84% from poets in all the places I grew up with, mostly. 00:00:36.060 --> 00:00:44.430 align:middle line:84% And I would like to read a poem by Lara Mann. 00:00:44.430 --> 00:00:47.670 align:middle line:90% She's Choctaw. 00:00:47.670 --> 00:00:51.960 align:middle line:84% And this is from page 416, and she's 00:00:51.960 --> 00:00:55.170 align:middle line:84% writing about the Nanih Waiya cave, which 00:00:55.170 --> 00:01:01.050 align:middle line:84% is a very sacred place in the land in along the Pearl 00:01:01.050 --> 00:01:03.040 align:middle line:90% River in Mississippi. 00:01:03.040 --> 00:01:05.745 align:middle line:84% So I'm just going to read from her poem. 00:01:05.745 --> 00:01:10.690 align:middle line:90% 00:01:10.690 --> 00:01:14.290 align:middle line:84% "A very long time ago, the first creation of men 00:01:14.290 --> 00:01:16.150 align:middle line:90% was in the Nanih Waiya. 00:01:16.150 --> 00:01:20.290 align:middle line:84% And they were made there, and they came forth. 00:01:20.290 --> 00:01:23.530 align:middle line:84% And the Choctaws came out in the Nanih Waiya. 00:01:23.530 --> 00:01:28.420 align:middle line:84% And then they sunned themselves on the earthen rampart. 00:01:28.420 --> 00:01:32.260 align:middle line:84% And when they got dry, they did not go anywhere 00:01:32.260 --> 00:01:35.830 align:middle line:84% but settled down on this very land. 00:01:35.830 --> 00:01:39.130 align:middle line:90% And it is the Choctaw home." 00:01:39.130 --> 00:01:42.140 align:middle line:84% And that's by Isaac Pistonatubbee. 00:01:42.140 --> 00:01:48.150 align:middle line:90% And so now I'll read her poem. 00:01:48.150 --> 00:01:51.930 align:middle line:84% "A couple of miles down this iron-locked road 00:01:51.930 --> 00:01:55.410 align:middle line:90% is a low cave in a large mound. 00:01:55.410 --> 00:01:58.680 align:middle line:84% Dad throws rocks inside the gate. 00:01:58.680 --> 00:02:00.570 align:middle line:90% We hear shallow water. 00:02:00.570 --> 00:02:05.510 align:middle line:84% He crawls through the opening, flashlight in hand. 00:02:05.510 --> 00:02:11.520 align:middle line:84% I am scared of underground places, can't follow. 00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:16.860 align:middle line:84% There is room for four grown men to stand, he echoes. 00:02:16.860 --> 00:02:20.070 align:middle line:84% I stay where I can see what's around me, 00:02:20.070 --> 00:02:25.440 align:middle line:84% kudzu-draped trees, old growth in the shadows. 00:02:25.440 --> 00:02:30.710 align:middle line:84% I can almost see what's inside, their stories. 00:02:30.710 --> 00:02:35.370 align:middle line:84% But they're tight-lipped, and I take my leave-- 00:02:35.370 --> 00:02:37.200 align:middle line:90% take my lesson, sorry. 00:02:37.200 --> 00:02:43.140 align:middle line:84% Picnic tables, grills, beer cans surround the mound. 00:02:43.140 --> 00:02:47.130 align:middle line:84% Even though it's miles away from any town, no sign, 00:02:47.130 --> 00:02:50.700 align:middle line:84% not on a map, just numbered country road, 00:02:50.700 --> 00:02:55.200 align:middle line:84% I can see people still come here. 00:02:55.200 --> 00:02:59.740 align:middle line:84% Dad crawls out, throws a burnt log onto the ground. 00:02:59.740 --> 00:03:03.900 align:middle line:84% I want to go inside, shuffle, head down, 00:03:03.900 --> 00:03:10.720 align:middle line:84% knees up into the entrance but can't go any farther. 00:03:10.720 --> 00:03:16.930 align:middle line:84% Instead I grab a handful of wet cave, dirt wall, mossy green, 00:03:16.930 --> 00:03:18.730 align:middle line:90% replace it with-- 00:03:18.730 --> 00:03:21.470 align:middle line:90% replace it with my hair. 00:03:21.470 --> 00:03:26.990 align:middle line:84% I clutch this dirt gift, nails in palms, 00:03:26.990 --> 00:03:31.060 align:middle line:90% head pulsing heat from pain. 00:03:31.060 --> 00:03:34.450 align:middle line:84% This place he's taken me, this shadow world 00:03:34.450 --> 00:03:37.070 align:middle line:90% requires both of us. 00:03:37.070 --> 00:03:40.690 align:middle line:90% We had to come to our source. 00:03:40.690 --> 00:03:41.620 align:middle line:90% Go in. 00:03:41.620 --> 00:03:44.230 align:middle line:90% Come back out renewed. 00:03:44.230 --> 00:03:47.020 align:middle line:84% But I'm not done with this past yet. 00:03:47.020 --> 00:03:50.920 align:middle line:90% Can't end it and re-emerge. 00:03:50.920 --> 00:03:55.820 align:middle line:90% My head is burning in shadows." 00:03:55.820 --> 00:03:59.140 align:middle line:84% And for Choctaws, the Nanih Waiya 00:03:59.140 --> 00:04:02.420 align:middle line:84% represents not only our birth mound, our mother mound, 00:04:02.420 --> 00:04:06.440 align:middle line:84% but also the sacred place that Choctaws crawled up out 00:04:06.440 --> 00:04:09.590 align:middle line:90% of and became people. 00:04:09.590 --> 00:04:15.250 align:middle line:84% And that's the story we've been told for generations.