Turtle Island
What if the world
was created by a giant turtle
swimming across the sky
at the beginning of time?
What if the turtle
carried dreams in her belly,
giving birth to fish and stars?
What if the high flying tern
marked the world lines of space and time
with nets of aurora borealis?
What if the donkey said
the humans are a joke, spinning through space
juggling fire and ice?
What if the crab said
crawl sideways if you want to uncover
the dreams that are painted inside of shells?
What if the moon said
the night will tell you secrets
if you listen to the music inside of stones?
What if the shark said
you will discover fish that glow like lanterns
in deeper currents of ocean water.
What if the octopus said
your dreams are tentacles
into a future filled with fish and golden apples.
What if the turtle
keeps swimming out of the sky
to a universe hidden somewhere else?
What if the buffalos
stampede with their ancestors across the Great Plains
under an ocean of sky?
Buffalo Woman says
the world is a dream or nightmare.
Weave your visions with tender hands.
— Diane Frank
