<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">A Map to the Next World</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><i style="font-size: 14px;" class=""> for Desiray Kierra Chee</i></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">In the last days of the fourth world I wished to make a map for</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">those who would climb through the hole in the sky.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">My only tools were the desires of humans as they emerged</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">from the killing fields, from the bedrooms and the kitchens.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">For the soul is a wanderer with many hands and feet.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">The map must be of sand and can’t be read by ordinary light. It</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">must carry fire to the next tribal town, for renewal of spirit.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">In the legend are instructions on the language of the land, how it</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">was we forgot to acknowledge the gift, as if we were not in it or of it.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Take note of the proliferation of supermarkets and malls, the</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">altars of money. They best describe the detour from grace.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Keep track of the errors of our forgetfulness; the fog steals our</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">children while we sleep.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Flowers of rage spring up in the depression. Monsters are born</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">there of nuclear anger.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Trees of ashes wave good-bye to good-bye and the map appears to</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">disappear.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">We no longer know the names of the birds here, how to speak to</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">them by their personal names.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Once we knew everything in this lush promise.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">What I am telling you is real and is printed in a warning on the</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">map. Our forgetfulness stalks us, walks the earth behind us, leav-</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">ing a trail of paper diapers, needles, and wasted blood.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">An imperfect map will have to do, little one.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">The place of entry is the sea of your mother’s blood, your father’s</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">small death as he longs to know himself in another.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">There is no exit.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">The map can be interpreted through the wall of the intestine—a</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">spiral on the road of knowledge.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">You will travel through the membrane of death, smell cooking</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">from the encampment where our relatives make a feast of fresh</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">deer meat and corn soup, in the Milky Way.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">They have never left us; we abandoned them for science.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">And when you take your next breath as we enter the fifth world</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">there will be no X, no guidebook with words you can carry.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">You will have to navigate by your mother’s voice, renew the song</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">she is singing.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Fresh courage glimmers from planets.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">And lights the map printed with the blood of history, a map you</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">will have to know by your intention, by the language of suns.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">When you emerge note the tracks of the monster slayers where they</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">entered the cities of artificial light and killed what was killing us.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">You will see red cliffs. They are the heart, contain the ladder.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">A white deer will greet you when the last human climbs from the</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">destruction.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Remember the hole of shame marking the act of abandoning our</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">tribal grounds.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">We were never perfect.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Yet, the journey we make together is perfect on this earth who was</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">once a star and made the same mistakes as humans.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">We might make them again, she said.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">Crucial to finding the way is this: there is no beginning or end.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class="">You must make your own map.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; min-height: 19px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Joy Harjo</div></body></html>