mother animal.
métis / settler ∞ duality / polarity ∞ five stanzas
i know mother animal.
she been walking under pines since Creation.
maybe you seen her painted in ochre? maybe
you seen her in Rome.
∞
mother animal got white teeth
and red seeds in her entrails.
they weep from her womb when she walks,
old swaddle-belly.
∞
mother animal has blue jaw drip hunger.
mother animal got crazy old-woman eyes.
mother animal is twelve thousand years old and pisses holy water—
it smells of sweetgrass.
∞
mother animal has the teeth of time ‘round her throat.
she bays her children back from old shores with new names:
she-wolves grown thin on Crown Land,
grown deaf to her tongue.
∞
mother animal tastes the void in her sacrum:
bones noosing naked organs like knotweed.
mother animal been walking for two hundred years. she will lie down soon.
she needs to lie in the shadow of her creator and sleep.
_____________________________________
∞
Note from the author:
My personal favorite "tattooable" lines are as follows:
- mother animal got white teeth and red seeds in her entrails.
- [she] pisses holy water— it smells of sweetgrass.
- old shores with new names
- she-wolves grown thin on Crown Land, grown deaf to her tongue.
- she needs to lie in the shadow of her creator (and sleep.)
About the Creator
Jennifer A. G.
🇨🇦 Canadian Writer, Painter & Embroidery Artist
♾️ Métis Nation
🎓 University of Victoria Alumna
📝 Publications: The Malahat Review, Freefall Magazine, Geist, Best Canadian Poetry 2026
Keep reading
More stories from Jennifer A. G. and writers in Poets and other communities.
Start Again
Introduction This is a prose poem from Harper Lewis's challenge that you can join in here: Start Again ♨️📖🔥🧾🔥📖♨️️ I Working In The Detritus And Wreckage Left By The Wrecking Ball Of The Hateful Favourities And Their Despicable Enablers They Call Me A Mendacious Abusive Cheat 🔥🧾🔥 And The Wole World Believes Them I Feel Abandoned But I Will Never Back Down 🔥🧾🔥 Hammering At The Brick Wall Of Ignorance One Day I Will Make It Fall Like Jericho My Power And Endeavour Will Never Diminish Every Day It Will Get Stronger 🔥🧾🔥 Encouraged By My Friends And Admirers Sixty Two Days Since The Wrecking Ball Hit And The Ignorant Perpetrators Just Laugh They Been Warned 🔥🧾🔥 I Will Be Smiling Soon That Is Definite ♨️📖🔥🧾🔥📖♨️️
By Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred 7 days ago in Poets
Comments (18)
Your roots are beating in every rhythmical and lyrical choice you made. Absolutely stunning, well deserved Top Story and win! 🏆🎊
This is extraordinary. It makes my attempt seem meager by comparison. The character, the imagery, the language-- a perfect blend of amazing. Congratulations! ⚡💙⚡
This is gorgeous and I love it
Wooohooooo congratulations on your win! 🎉💖🎊🎉💖🎊
This is beyond powerful. Glad to see more Indigeneity on Vocal :)
"Grown deaf to her tongue", interesting line, and wonderful writing!
You’ll win with these gold bars of crazy joy 🤩
congratulations on top story-- you have captured wonderful images that seem to capture indigenous concerns.
Hmm
That incredible!
“Mother animal” becomes this mythic, grieving, wild force, carrying so much history and pain. Congratulations on your top story!
Beautiful and captivating!
Nice
This is amazing, Jennifer. So many great lines. I especially love "she-wolves grown thin on Crown Land, grown deaf to her tongue."
Well deserved top story! Congratulations, and good luck with the challenge!
This was so gorgeous! Your word choice is something else!
These verses echo with ancient wisdom and evoke the forgotten animistic spirits of our ancestors, Roman and indigenous. Absolutely loved it, Jennifer! This is a wonderful challenge entry!
So lovely ♦️♦️♦️I subscribed to you please add me too 🙏♦️