fieldston american reader volume i – fall 2007 - Ethical Culture ...

Endless eyes shining always for green river moss for tiny waterspiders.Crying out the doveit is ordained in swirling brown waterman of Sunhe left hercame to riverwoman and in the sundown windto singyellow sand and sky.will not let me forgetand it carries you away, my lost one my love, the mountain.for rainclouds swelling in the northwest sky for rainsmell onpale blue winds from China.Janet Campbell HaleCOEUR D’ALENESALAD LA RAZAThe crisp Pale green Lettuce Caught the sunlight, Glistened,As I Broke the leaves For my salad, Lettuce I’d bought thatmorning at Safeway, Remembering how My family, For atime, And off and on, Lived in dumpy cabin camps, Movedaround, Picking berries beans, apples, cherries, Stripping hops.I remembered The dirt, And sweating Under a blazing sun Fornext to nothing, And The babbling, Laughing Mexican workers,Who called themselves “Spanish” (There were no Chicanosin those days) And looked down On Indians so much, “LosIndios” was enough of a dirty name In itself. Eating my crispand delicious Safeway salad, I tried not to think Of CaesarChavez.ON A CATHOL.IC CHILDHOODEven after Confession, Sister Mary Leonette told me (I was sixyears old at the time) My soul would be scarred by sin.This was during catechism.I had a question:“Can’t you make your guardian angel go awayNot even while you’re going to the toilet?”Mary Leonette glared at meAnd the children laughed.She was from Vermont and didn’tLike it in grubby old Omak, Washington, all that much.I thought guardian angels were creepyAnd sermons boring,And when I had to kneel during MassI prayed to GodTo make it pass quicklyBecause my knees ached.Padre Nostros De Ern ChalisSmelling incenseAnd having to look at a gorylife‐size painted statue ofthe crucified Christ,And think ofThe poor soulsIn purgatoryAnd a recent sin of my ownI’d never confess:I stole my sister’s plastic glows‐in‐the‐dark Virgin MaryAnd hid it deep within the lilac bush.God would never understand.14 fieldston american reader volume i – fall 2007