FootprintsintheWind.com

An ancestor is called to account by her ancestors. Do you know yours? I don’t. I must think on them. Do you sing to your land? I barely sing.

:- Doug.

Come to the land
you can imagine
where persons walked
how they warmed themselves
whom they will dream
their songs and stories
of yet

:- Doug.

What kind of ancestor have I been up to now? Ignorant, that’s what. Oblivious. You? What questions can we ask each other to get better? Is any generation away from us? Consider.

:- Doug.

Spaces
between droplets
of mists
are ever there        here
even       especially
when coming together
and you dissolve

:- Doug.

Do you believe you are an ancestor even if not remembered?

:- Doug.

My writing wants to tend.

:- Doug.

Most important humanity: someone there with you at end.

:- Doug.

Footprints in the Wind^sm # 2486

stare into
hot chocolate mug
stir
wait
at last
opening
flows

Please pass it on.

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As ancestors how do we converse with the generations?

:- Doug.

Antecessor does not have to be
a heavy thing
most are not aware
today
they are making
someone else’s
headwaters

:- Doug.

No gathering but in loosening.

:- Doug.

What is the most profound part of life? What is its constant? What holds us together? You might think change, if you think long. But I think, after, it is loss, ending, death. When we are finally severed, bone from bone, heartbeat from heartbeat, we are closest to opening. Fire.

:- Doug.

What does it mean for me, for us, for the Anishinaabe to be keepers of fire?

:- Doug.

Dear Unknown Ancestor. . .

:- Doug.

You already are an ancestor, right? So what does that mean? What can it mean, for us who have forgotten? Are forgotten?

:- Doug.

How life moves
How life stills
Let us remind
Each other
How life is

:- Doug.

What kind of ancestor would you love to be?

:- Doug.

He needs an enemy a day.

:- Doug.

That tie does not go with that suit: extremely normal.

:- Doug.

In what ways are you the ancestor you wish you had had?

:- Doug.

Where were you when you first realized you are an ancestor?

:- Doug.

You know you are an ancestor don’t you?

:- Doug.

What sort of ancestor are you? Already?

:- Doug.