FIELDGRASS
Charlotte Koons, July 18, 1983
Perhaps this July evening
and each Julytime past
only the generations
of fireflies
whirling in their brief brilliance
can bear true witness
as the women gather
at Seneca.
1590…and the women gather
Tribal matriarchs of the Hotinonsionne
of the Iroquois Confederation
demanding an end to war
among their Nations
voices chanting
ghosting upward from the fieldgrass
at Seneca.
1848…and the women gather
in convention
proclaiming
“that they may no longer publish their
degradation by declaring themselves
satisfied with their present condition,
nor their ignorance by asserting that they
have all the rights they want.”
Their eloquence
explodes upwards from the fieldgrass
at Seneca.
1908…and the women gather
“Resolved, that it is the duty of the women
of this country to secure themselves
their sacred rights to elective franchise.”
Punctuating torches
Pieces of the mother moon
Flare above the fieldgrass
at Seneca.
1983…and the women gather
repudiating the Seneca
which harbors now only
the instruments of death and destruction
stabbing at the sun
shearing off the fieldgrass
at Seneca.
1983…and the women gather
their voices, bodies, wills
their incandescent spirits
spiralling upwards from the fieldgrass
pulsing shards of peace
instants of hope and power
aching to rejoin their mother moon
spiral upward from the fieldgrass
as the fireflies
and the women
gather
at Seneca.
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