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PWB Peeps Open Thread: Poetry of Walker [1]

['Bill In Portland Maine', 'Dan K', 'Mother Mags']

Date: 2026-08-14  

A Song of a Navajo Weaver

Bertrand N.O. Walker [ Hen-toh] (1870-1927)

For ages long, my people have been

Dwellers in this land;

For ages viewed these mountains,

Loved these mesas and these sands,

View from Airport Mesa MollyBloom

That stretch afar and glisten,

Glimmering in the sun

As it lights the mighty canyons

Ere the weary day is done.

Sam Loyd (@samloyd) at https://unsplash.com/photos/person-sitting-on-cliff-during-daytime-Mg4TZbhjJ3M

Shall I, a patient dweller in this

Land of fair blue skies,

Tell something of their story while

My shuttle swiftly flies?

As I weave I’ll trace their journey,

Devious, rough and wandering,

Ere they reached the silent region

Where the night stars seem to sing.

The Milky Way over the Teton Range, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming Diana Robinson via flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/

When the myriads of them glitter

Over peak and desert waste,

Crossing which the silent runner and

The gaunt of co-yo-tees haste.

Greater Roadrunner at Brushline Road Clickadee

Shall I weave the zig-zag pathway

Whence the sacred fire was born;

And interweave the symbol of the God

Who brought the corn—

Of the Rain-god whose fierce anger

Was appeased by sacred meal,

And the trust that my brave people

In him evermore shall feel?

Navajo rug Mother Mags

All this perhaps I might weave

As the woof goes to and fro,

Wafting as my shuttle passes,

Humble hopes, and joys and care,

Weaving closely, weaving slowly,

While I watch the pattern grow;

Showing something of my life:

To the Spirit God a prayer.

Susan Hudson [Suzanne Hudson] (Native American: Diné, Navajo, born 1958) Tears of our Children, Tears for our Children, 2013 Quilt: cotton cloth, cotton batting, commercially tanned leather, ink, thread 144.5 x 127.8 cm Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian Susan Hudson is a multidimensional artist and skilled quilter, who has tapped into her personal struggles and the struggles of her people through her art. Born in East Los Angeles, California, she now lives in Sheep Springs, New Mexico. A member of the Navajo Nation, Hudson’s clans are Towering House People, Apache People, Water Edge People, and Mexican People. Hudson’s mother, Dorothy Woods, as well as her grandmothers, were forced to learn sewing in boarding schools where there was little tolerance for mistakes. When Hudson was nine years of age, her mother taught her how to sew out of necessity, as they were quite poor and couldn't afford to buy clothes. Hudson learned to alter donated clothes and made quilts

Grateful that he brought my people

To the land of silence vast

Taught them arts of peace and ended

All their wanderings of the past.

Deftly now I trace the figures,

This of joy and that of woe;

And I leave an open gate-way

For the Dau to come and go.

[END]
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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/8/14/800079435/community/p/

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