heritage

my father only gives thanks to the land for what he takes

he is a man who refuses gifts and help

in his mind to take requires great skill

he calls taking earning

my father says he loves the world

he wants to preserve the land

he hopes his land will hold

many deer he can shoot

to eat in the winter with his family

my father takes a young boy

to the creek to catch fish to eat

there are not many fish left in the creek anymore

the boy brings home a small trout

my father is very proud of him

my father eats the fish with the boy

he does not eat young cattail shoots

that i collected while they fished

he tells us the creek had many trout

when he was a young boy

and they tasted just like this

my father does not know how 

young cattail shoots taste

he has never eaten them before

he is sure they are not nearly as good

as trout from his creek

or venison from his freezer

___

lolo elleri is no one in particular. Their work is usually found in online poetry journals, or scrawled on scraps of paper hidden where nobody will look for them. They live in the world, far away from outer space.