older sister of the Fawn,
this one was more aligned
with Snake – diagnosed with
early signs of scoliosis, she did
nightly exercises that left her
with abdominal muscles whereby
her upper body could rise up
like a cobra’s, weave back
and forth until she hypnotized
you with her gutsy powers

Martin Timentwa, Born 1912, Monse,
Okanogan, Died October 1954, Monse,
Okanogan, age 42, spouse Jeanette
Narcisse, 11 Children; Loretta Ann
(the eighth) married Sonny Bigwolf,
had four children: Sonny Eveningstar,
Frank Buckskin, Alberta Rose,
and April J. – family saga of
a red-robed altar boy, fumbling
through a white girl’s wedding

I screwed up, I abdicated
my authority, I forgot who
was boss and my crew
mutinied, leaving me alone
to finish dishes after breakfast –
this girl, a woodland creature,
stepped forward like a fawn
from the shadows of her gloom
and helped me finish dishes,
not a word between us

in my joy, I greeted
you like first snow, dancing
in your nightgown; in my
doubt, I lost touch with
you too early; in my
wish, I find you, visiting
Yakima or maybe Walla Walla;
in my myth, you are
a tribal sage, elevated with
a crown of apple blossoms

while hiking with the group,
ingeniously she draws attention ’round
her like a mother’s danceshawl
by allowing just one shoe
to float downstream – how will
this child navigate? a train wreck
in the making or just
high-spirited, inventive?
secrets hidden in the beauty of her
bonepale skin and turquoise eyes

endangered prairie chicken, tell me –
flawless biscuit, playful eskimo, why –
your face a sunflower puzzle,
deep brown spirals in your
eyes, you were smaller than
the rest, eclipsed by your
big sister – how vulnerable? so
shocked at your attempted suicide
with vitamins in seventh grade
I’m frozen at the door