Memory Sack

That first cry opens the earth door.
We join the ancestor road.
With our pack of memories
Slung slack on our backs
We venture into the circle
Of destruction,
Which is the circle
Of creation
And make more—



“Memory Sack” by Joy Harjo from An American Sunrise. Copyright © 2019 by Joy Harjo. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.