E34 Sippokni Sia by Winnie Lewis Gravitt

Send us Fan MailDescription: An immersive reading of Sippokni Sia by Winnie Lewis Gravitt with reflection on the Choctaw Indian Tribe, code switching, aging and the grandmother effect.Website:https://anauscultation.wordpress.com/ Work:Sippokni SiaWinnie Lewis GravittI am old, Sippokni sia.Before my eyes run many years,Like panting runners in a race.Like a weary runner, the years lag;Eyes grow dim, blind with wood smoke;A handkerchief binds my head,For I am old. Sippokni sia.Hands, once quick to weave and spin;Strong to fan the tanchi;Fingers patient to shape dirt bowls;Loving to sew hunting shirt;Now, like oak twigs twisted.I sit and rock my grandson.I am old. Sippokni sia.Feet swift as wind o’er young cane shoots;Like stirring leaves in ta falla dance;Slim like rabbits in leather shoes;Now moves like winter snows,Like melting snows on the Cavanaugh.In the door I sit, my feet in spring water.I am old. Sippokni sia.Black like crow’s feather, my hair.Long and straight like hanging rope;My people proud and young.Now like hickory ashes in my hair,Like ashes of old camp fire in rain.Much civilization bow my people;Sorrow, grief and trouble sit like blackbirds on fence.I am old. Sippokni sia hoke.References:Winnie Lewis Gravitt: https://poets.org/poet/winnie-lewis-gravitt  https://dictionary.choctawnation.com/word/Coall DA, Hertwig R. Grandparental investment: past, present, and future. Behav Brain Sci. 2010 Feb;33(1):1-19; discussion 19-40.