Alaskan
Native writer
Suzi Vaara Williams
essays:
A
Chilkat Weaving Adventure
Tlingit
Textiles
The
Essence of Chilkat Weaving
poetry:
Five
Weavers Gathered
Follow
the Dream
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Follow
the dream listen to the voice weaver
Chilkat weaver twining time
Dwelling between worlds
life force flowing yielding
Heart expanding senses encompassing vanished
time and glimmering future
Twining the face of time
Ghost face speaking life line
Warps carry the weft of action and choice
Crossing over through the fingers
Listen to the voice
Weaving the gate for souls to dance
Continuous life spark flashing through time
Neurons of thought woven into the cosmic mind
Cycles and spirals of existence infinitely
reoccurring
And the souls dance through the woven gate
Shaped entrance of Raven Eagle
and their brethren
Living beings clothed in shapes
Always the face of the spirits eyes to see
the rough time
Ears to hear the cries of the heart and mouths
to speak wisdom
From time immemorial to time
Weaving is the key and the gate
The fabric of our culture
Immortal souls dancing in the flow of time
Woven images of identity faces
of the spirit force
Animated through ritual our ancestors
speak
Connecting us like trees on a nurse log in
the forest
Chilkat robes live into tomorrow
©1996
Suzi Vaara Williams
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