Tending the Sedge - Iris Jamahl Dunkle

[Larry Robinson]

Tending the Sedge

The land was first the land’s. Then, the Pomo,
the Miwok and the Wappo lived on it.
The tribelets of the Konohomtara,
the Kataictemi and the Biakomtara
settled on different sections of the wide
Laguna for over 10,000 years.
Little changed except the roots and stalks of
the coarse sedge plants that grew half-submerged in
the water. The Pomo basket weavers
cultivated the sedge fields, passed prayers
for straight stalks and supple roots from mouth to
ear to mouth. Prayed and sang, untangled and threaded.
The basket is in the roots, that’s where it begins.

	- Iris Jamahl Dunkle
	
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