Anna Crowe
Visiting the Home of the Brave
Visiting the Home of the Brave
1.ARAWAK TUNIC
Columbus took their gentleness
for cowardice, and ear-marked
them and their caciques for slaves.
A note on the wall tells us,
when they were weaving, they always left
a small, deliberate mistake,
as though they understood
how the heart, bent on perfection, ends
trapped in its own web.
Red/black chevrons stutter
their cardiograph
from sleeve to outstretched sleeve,
but somewhere, I tell myself,
will be the invisible blip, one
small, wrong
stitch through which
the weaver’s soul
may yet escape.
2.DAKOTA GHOST-SHIRT FROM WOUNDED KNEE
The Cheyenne and Dakota wove
raw muslin into shirts: these were
the shirts for the Ghost-Dance, which,
duly performed, conferred
invisibility on the wearer.
We still believe some form of words
or ritual will come between
us and another’s anger. Not seeing
that our invisibility’s what’s required,
nor that it will be some sudden
memory of past delight that pierces,
leaving this small scorched hole.
