And this last poem I spent about a summer out in California,
and my ex-boyfriend at the time convinced me to go all the way
up to Mosquito Lakes.
And I said, but we don't have bug dope.
And he said, it's just named that.
And I said, are you sure?
And we didn't take bug dope.
And he was wrong.
[LAUGHTER]
Mosquito Lakes, California.
Through wood and rock.
Unfamiliar enough to be familiar.
I climb.
Dusk creeps.
Sniffs at my neck like his hand on my zipper.
A swarm of mosquitoes knock the southern wind from my throat.
The path, the water.
It's lost.
Then, makomin miigiwewin!
A shock of bear berry.
Even here.
You're reaching for me.
Chi Miigwech.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you, Ana.
Thank you.
That was powerful.