Verses

"Corn-Planter"
(author and date unknown---from Voices of WAH'KON-TAH*, ed. Robert K. Dodge and Joseph B. McCullough, 1985)

I plant corn four years:
ravens steal it;
rain drowns it;
August burns it;
locusts ravage leaves.

I stand in a circle and throw seed.
Old men laugh because they know the wind
will carry the seed to my neighbor.

I stand in a circle on planted seed.
Moles burrow through the earth
and harvest my crop.

I throw seed to the wind
and wind drops it on the desert.

The eighth year I spend planting corn;
I tend my fields all season.
After September's harvest I take it to the market.
The people of my village are too poor to buy it.

The ninth spring I make chicken-feather headresses,
plastic tom-toms and beaded belts.
I grow rich,
buy an old Ford,
drive to Chicago,
and get drunk
on Welfare checks.


*Wah'Kon-Tah is the "Great Mystery,"the sum total of all things, the conception of an impersonal, spiritual and life-giving power. The Dakotas believe that there are two kinds of songs: songs made by people, and songs that come in visions throught the spirits of Wah'Kon-Tah. It is from the voices of Wah'Kon-Tah that people gain spiritual power and wisdom.
There are many other names among the various Indian peoples--Wa-konda, Wakan-tanka, Nesaru, Manito--that signify the same meaning as Wah'Kon-Tah.