And I thought I'd end by reading the opening and closing
poems that are just a few lines long that are in Muskogee.
I say "um" a lot tonight, I realize.
I apologize.
I'm studying Muskogee, and here we go.
One way that I'm learning is by writing poems
in Muskogee, which is really wonderful because then I
read them to my teachers and some other speakers.
And then we really struggle with like metaphorical language
and how to make that and the sounds.
And I just love it.
I love the struggles and the beauty
of that space between the poems and the languages.
So this first one basically says,
I follow the story, the sun rising over the ocean's edge,
I arrive at--
I arrive at the sunrise at the edge of the ocean.
I turn back, and behind me, I see myself.
I see my image and my face disappears.
Nakonakv vcakayis.
Hvse ah ossan uehvtke rakko tempen vlakis.
Vcekelliyat, yopvn ē oh hecis: nake vcvhakat,
cvtorofv vnsekos.