The EpicA Work By Zachary Lesch-Huie
A trip with Pete Reichle--
Oh my God come save us!
To the Hopi/Navajo lands
He says he'll take us.
A powerful educational trip
Is what he promises,
Then course work and community
pile on top of us.
But we come back for more
'cause we believe its good
And we read, study and discuss
As we should.
In preparation, we become excited;
Thinking of what's ahead, we are delighted.
But then the time is now!
And so we leave;
What lies ahead,
Our Anglo minds can't conceive.
The clusterfuck of airports
tests our group.
Pete Reichle threatens terrorism--
We're arrested in one fell swoop.
(Not really, but it was close;
With Pete's clever comment,
we were almost toast!)
Intrepid yet emotionally sensitive,
Our group comes together.
As it turns out,
The chaos of airplanes was all for the better.
So we aim for Zuni-land
And our journey continues.
As well as the local jewelry venues.
Then to the college of Dine'
For a serious hogan ceremony
Our spiritual fires were lit--
No bologna!
We take a day off and some enjoy
Later we search for Annie's house--
Lost of course.
But we find it!
Yes, we sure do.
And we meet Annie,
Ready to hear her unique view.
As we emerge from her hogan we realize
Collectively, our minds she blew.
We recover and drive
The beauty of which
Causes a collective,"HOORAY!"
We enter its depths
With our guide Andrew Henry
And our trip is kindly assisted
By the rest of his family.
The quiet beauty of the canyon
Totally astounds us;
We are changed there,
With those red walls around us.
I do have to confess
A memory of De Chelly
When Andrew taught us
"Bull-shit" in Navajo: Dole B'che!
Yes, learning the language
Was a joy and a fun
So were Bridget, Pee and
'Drew, Andrew's playful son.
Sadly, we had to leave
That beautiful oasis
It's just that we were curious
About where else our trip might take us.
So with Navajo Tacos,
We made one last feast
And headed West (not East).
We entered Hopi land,
A quiet mysterious place
And in Old Orabi, we found
Blue Corn Crunchies to taste.
They were good,
And the Hopi way of life was too
Different from ours--
Which is more like a zoo.
Then we met Ester,
A model of hospitality
And that marked the end
Of our Hopi reality.
So we drove to the airport
And prepared to fly home
Ready to discover
The Sacred Seeds that were sewn.