This morning’s dialogue poem

The four fold practice meets the Diné healthy communities framework

Harvest from a three hour check in circle this morning, building a social field among 40 health promotion practitioners from across the Navajo Nation.  The circle was at times tender and wickedly funny.  It built a beautiful field to begin our three day training.  Here’s the poem:

Yá’a tééh! It’s a good day.

I am here for the wellness of our nations;

we have stationed ourselves inside our families

where we teach and learn

reach each parent and turn around

their minds to a kind of space

that is safe to face

what flies over our heads

as we sit on our sheepskins

and keep the teachings in the home.

It’s a warm feeling, healing even

to be basking in being hosted

with a ticker that ticks and keeps on giving

and my Converse laced up and I’m ready for living

I love growing the food my family is eating

preventing cancer and diabetes

whispering the secret of healthy people

teaching through recreation and schools

reaching youth so they don’t act like fools

and see peace and respect as cool.

I work in recovery which is a kind of discovery

for the men coming back to us from the pen

bringing them back to the traditional life

to be in harmony, connected to family

receiving the gifts of community and ceremony

to counter the drama of trauma

“Lying in the road hurt” means that my work is about healing

getting up and feeling the body

feeling the advocacy that I speak

fixed by the gaze of a grazing sheep

that reminds me of my grandmother’s teaching:

this is the way that it has to be

to spread my wings and see

how I can develop me and then how we can move forward

to see possibility and leave our conversations happy.

I start with myself, and build out from there

circles of care that come from the sheepskin,

the ancient wisdom, and tools that help us weave

the stories that leave us tightly bound.

Tighten up your buns, there’s work to be done,

Doesn’t matter if it’s your hair or your derriere.

And take a look and make sure your corn beef is cooked.

I am a believer in hope and change

for a positive exchange of the art of the heart

grounding in respect so we can expect

to find out why place matters.

I help to bring wholeness with a focus on food

a wholesome and fullsome way to collude

with kids and youth who pick up the positive attitude

that comes from our culture

harmonize our bodies and our eyes.

I’m a traveller, an unraveller of

unhealthy ways, weaving teachings about how to raise

communities, raise gardens and harvest our best

bring our heart to everything we do

deal with our fears so we can be here

present to what wants to appear

with minds clear.

I’m a first generation relocation baby

thinking maybe I have a giftedness that will lift the people

bring them to fitness

and give back what I have learned on this ride

to see pride inside everyone in our tribes.

It all comes down to helping others

coaching kids, approaching mothers and grandmothers

who share their respect with us

I’m from the beach boys

and a blond haired grandma and traditional speakers

who infused in me a possibility

to change the dysfunction I see, conversationally,

for the benefit of the community, to support the wellness that starts from me.

We know our own patterns and carry them in our blood

transport them everywhere flood of memories

leaving this world better than how we found it

better harmony, better family.

I might be out of words.

Overwhelmed at everything I’ve heard

and here to hear with my ears and heart

to get a head start on addressing the fears

Here, I can see where my prayers are going,

and what has come to my knowing,

my leadership is calling me back

and I can see that I stack up.

The talking happens at the rug,

drawing people into the snug corner of the home

where we share the honest lessons we have learned

pray the prayers that burn in our hearts.

All over the world, we understand weaving

(even though our sweater doesn’t meet five days from leaving)

each one of us is teaching in this room

each one bringing our strands to the loom.

I work in the struggle

creating the space where families can face their challenges

with something as simple as reading

or as powerful as seeking out the strengths

or going to great lengths

to build leaders who feed their own learning

turning back to the language and values.

I am related to the world my relations unfurled

like a ball of yarn that leads us to our tools

a school of weaving leaving us loved and moved

coming back to what was lost

as we chased a living across the south

now I’m getting the language in my mouth

and find myself at a junction

where I support functional community

and do the work of spirit.

Yá’a tééh! It’s a good day.

and good to start in a beautiful way.