GRANDMOTHER

GRANDMOTHER

Ray Young  Bear

Young Bear, Ray (1950) .American -Indian poet and novelist. He was born in the Mesquaki tribe , His principal theme is the contemporary  American Indian’s search for dentty .his major works are Waiting to be Fed ( 1975) ,Winter of the salamander (1980) ,the Invisible Musician (1990) , Black of Eagle child (1992) . In this poem he draws a picture of his grandmother /However, the woman with “the purple scarf / and the plastic / shopping bag ” is hardly the stereotypical Indian grandmother .At the same time she has a symbolical connection to the oldest part of the earth - “ a voice /coming from /a  rock .”

If I were to see

Her shape from a mile away

 I’d k now so quickly

 That it would be her.

The purple scarf

 And the plastic

Shopping bag,

If I felt

Hands on my head

I’d know that those

 Were her hands

 Warm and damp

With the smell

Of roots

If I heard

A voice

 Coming from

 A rock

 I’d know

 And her words

Would flow inside me

 Like the sight

Of some one

 Stirring ashes

 From a sleeping fire

 At night