Rock Bowl
Bear carried a drop of
the Atlantic Ocean in a tiny vial.
Raven had flown to the Northwest
and carried back a vial with
a single drop of the Pacific Ocean.
Coyote held a single dewdrop
from a Mountain Ball Cactus flower
from Bryce Canyon.
Three directions—this year it was Deer’s turn
for the fourth. She brought a drop of water
from the Colorado River.
They met in northern Arizona,
now called the four corners,
and placed the drops in a rock bowl
they used each year.
Each added sacred medicines—
cedar, sage, sweetgrass,
and tobacco.
They stirred
medicine, water, and fine red earth
into the bowl formation.
Bear prayed over the water
and medicine mixture.
It took longer each year
for this to work.
Water tables ran low;
the ocean cried in pollution.
After several days
the rain fell again.
Bear, Coyote, Raven, and Deer
fell asleep near the rock bowl
and dreamed of golden tassels of corn
singing in the southeastern breeze.
Jason Grundstrom-Whitney’s poetry has appeared in 3 Nations Anthology: Native, Canadian, & New England Writers and in the Underground Writers Association’s Anthology of Maine Poets. The band Osha Root recently produced a CD featuring his music and poetry. Jason has spent a lifetime working on Native American Rights, Sexual Assault, and Domestic Violence survival, Hospice and end of life care, homeless and environmental issues, and alternative medicine practice, A Bear Clan member of the Passamaquoddy Tribe, Jason studied with native teachers and many others while he hitch-hiked across America for two and a half years. Jason is a father, grandfather, and husband, and he has been in recovery for 37 years.