The Powwow at the End of the World - Sherman Alexie

[Larry Robinson]

The Powwow at the End of the World

I am told by many of you that I must forgive and so I shall 
after an Indian woman puts her shoulder to the Grand Coulee Dam 
and topples it. I am told by many of you that I must forgive 
and so I shall after the floodwaters burst each successive dam 
downriver from the Grand Coulee. I am told by many of you 
that I must forgive and so I shall after the floodwaters find 
their way to the mouth of the Columbia River as it enters the Pacific 
and causes all of it to rise. I am told by many of you that I must forgive 
and so I shall after the first drop of floodwater is swallowed by that salmon 
waiting in the Pacific. I am told by many of you that I must forgive and so I shall 
after that salmon swims upstream, through the mouth of the Columbia 
and then past the flooded cities, broken dams and abandoned reactors 
of Hanford. I am told by many of you that I must forgive and so I shall 
after that salmon swims through the mouth of the Spokane River 
as it meets the Columbia, then upstream, until it arrives 
in the shallows of a secret bay on the reservation where I wait alone. 
I am told by many of you that I must forgive and so I shall after 
that salmon leaps into the night air above the water, throws 
a lightning bolt at the brush near my feet, and starts the fire 
which will lead all of the lost Indians home. I am told 
by many of you that I must forgive and so I shall 
after we Indians have gathered around the fire with that salmon 
who has three stories it must tell before sunrise: one story will teach us 
how to pray; another story will make us laugh for hours; 
the third story will give us reason to dance. I am told by many 
of you that I must forgive and so I shall when I am dancing 
with my tribe during the powwow at the end of the world.

	- Sherman Alexie