Suit’ u I’yes Slh’tenexwen [1]

This used to be a garden,

before the strangers came with strange beliefs.

They claimed to be cursed with something they

called original sin, but blessed with something else,

called dominion over the whole living earth.

They tore apart the garden,

insisted that the savage wilds be conquered

and subdued to be improved.

We are part of the earth. Thus their belief that we

too must be subdued. Have they forgotten,

this used to be a garden?

On the seventh day, do they look upon their work

and see that it is good? I think we need our old beliefs

to guide us back to the garden beyond the gate,

guarded by their angel with a fiery sword.

This used to be a garden.

I don’t think the strangers knew how the garden grew,

so carefully attuned to the rhythms and tones

of the earth’s own beautiful song—sung for untold

millennia before they came along.

This used to be a garden.

It fed us and loved us, and we loved it. We still do—

or at least the memory of it. I’ve heard it said

that half-histories are half-truths and half-truths

are lies. Let me tell it to you whole:

This used to be a garden.

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[1] The Truly Beautiful Earth

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Rena Priest is a member of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) Nation. She is the incumbent Washington State Poet Laureate and Maxine Cushing Gray Distinguished Writing Fellow. Priest is also the recipient of an Allied Arts Foundation Professional Poets Award, an American Book Award, and fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, Nia Tero, The Vadon Foundation, and Indigenous Nations Poets. She holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College.