For as long as my people’s memory stretches back; i, we, us- have always been in relation to these waters and this land our old stories tell of mothers dreaming, visioning and creating new life
Lisez l’histoire de K Dawn Martin
Scotland, ON
Six Nations of the Grand River
Âge 21
Water is life. I know this statement has been used a lot over the last year with what is happening with the Dakota Access Pipeline, #NoDAPL and the water protectors. I, myself have not been not been to Standing Rock but I have always felt this deep connection to the natural environment around me.
I wanted to honour our women warriors, our Yethi'nistenha ohwentsiake our Mother the Earth, and water. As a women, I've been taught that we are the water carriers and there is a responsibility in that. We as women have the ability to bring in new life into this world- so does our Mother the Earth. Water truly connects all of creation and what happens to the waters happens to us as a human race.
This piece is meant to be performed and sang. The bolded piece is a song from the Akwasasne Women's singers who I've gotten their permission to use in the poem. The poem is in three parts; water and creation, water and women, and water, treaty making, and where we are today.
Yonkwanoronhkwa ohneka
Yonkwanoronhkwa ohneka (I love water)
Kahnekaronnyon mmhmmm (All types of water)
Kahnekanoron mmhmm (Water is precious)
Kaynoweyaheya
for as long as my people’s memory
stretches back; i, we, us-
have always been in relation to
these waters and this land
our old stories tell of mothers
dreaming, visioning and creating
new life
since Loon saw this Beautiful Flower
swimming through currents
and Goose saw her
whirling through air
as Skywoman was falling down and floating up
and falling down and floating up
and falling down and floating up-
ours waters have reflected us
Water and air relations bring
Skywoman to Turtles back
Muskrat carries soil to this
Beautiful Flower as she dances and sings
our first gardens into existence
streams push through
layers of dirt
as veins embrace waters and soil
growing the life blood of Our Mother
the Earth
as sapling and flint are birthed
who create all life on Earth;
sapling gathers dirt and water
to form our clay bodies
he blew in spirit three times
connecting all in Creation
Yonkwanoronhkwa ohneka
Yonkwanoronhkwa ohneka (i love water)
Kahnekaronnyon mmhmmm (all types of water)
Kahnekanoron mmhmm (water is precious)
Kaynoweyaheya
mother’s bodies sustain life
and carry unborn babies
in wombs
as baby see through mother’s eyes
and hear through mother’s ears
mothers sing and whisper teachings to children
in wombs
Skén:nen Ka’shatsténsera Ka’nikonhrí:io
Tewahkwihsron tetewatèn:ro
we will try hard
to come together in friendship
in peace, strength and good mind
mother’s bodies hold
worlds together
with unbroken links
throughout time
grandmother moon
pulls tides in and out of shores
like grandmother moons pull red
waters every new cycle
on day of my birth
waters broke through my
mother’s dam
making tidal waves and water falls
that sent streams down legs
soaking the ground
letting all my relations know
i was falling and floating to this earth too
as i cry for my first breath
waters flow down faces
lips latch on nipples
as babies thirst for dripping waters
breasts nourish the next generations
from our mother’s bodies flow
these relations with life and land
balance in our first treaty
our mothers still- dreaming, visioning and creating
new life
Yonkwanoronhkwa ohneka
Yonkwanoronhkwa ohneka
Kahnekaronnyon mmhmmm
Kahnekanoron mmhmm
Kaynoweyaheya
when the numbered treaties came
settled minds turned creation
into resources
treaties not honoured
severed roots from fertile grounds
cutting trees down
covered land with concrete
dug soils and pathways that
ripped through naked bodies
fracking oil and fractured lives
our mothers don’t just go missing
if they trespass onto our lands,
they trespass on our bodies
our profits tell of black serpents
spilling black poisons
across bare bodies
history is written by the victors
but our stories speak revolutions
of birth and rebirth
of creating and recreating
our ancestors have already
prayed on this resiliency
for as long as there has been
colonialism on our lands-
our ancestors have been resisting
you do not desert your mother
when she is at harm and hurting
defend the sacred
Yonkwanoronhkwa ohneka
Yonkwanoronhkwa ohneka
Kahnekaronnyon mmhmm
Kahnekanoron mmhmm
Kaynoweyaheya yo hó