Bawaajigan

I dreamt, once, that I took a breath 
and inside of me
seedlings
began to grow

In this dream, I reached up
and a Milky Way of light 
arced
along the curves 
of my expanding and contracting ribs
In this dream, I reached up
and an algae film of borealis licked 
along the webbing between my fingers 
when I dipped my hands
into the marsh waters 
of the sky

In this dream, I reached down
and roots 
grew 
from fingertips I pressed 
below pine needles and
decomposing leaves
In this dream, I reached down

Before I woke, I heard the sound
of someone
speaking in my voice

I dreamt that I took a breath
and tiny things seeking
medicine pouches 
in which to be carried
prayed I might have insides
of cattail down,
of sphagnum moss,
and that I may also be as
a chickadee in winter,
even so

Zoë Johnson, a queer nonbinary writer and enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa, graduated in 2020 with their MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts. Their fiction and poetry have been published in Plentitude Magazine, Pulp Literature, bilingually in The Polyglot, Eastern Iowa Review and more.

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