Bundles - Mariee Sioux

Oh, pick me up, I’m this bundle of sticks

Tied with the stems of clover and brambles

Oh, pick me up, I’m this bundle

Wrapped in shrouds of muscle

And patched with cedars and shadows

Patched for a million miles

And waiting like a praying mantis

To be found by a curious child

Those tiny ones with open-eyed wonder

Like the jaws of a yawning coyote

Or a cactus a-blooming early

And a loving dawn like a mother

And a loving dawn like a mother

And wishing it rained was the answer

And a loving dawn like a mother

And a loving dawn like a mother

And wishing it rained was the answer

And in curious jars we’re a-spinning

Spinning, spinning, spinning into sickness

Spinning, spinning, spinning into sickness

And singing for stillness

Spinning, spinning, spinning into sickness

Spinning, spinning, spinning into sickness

And making up a still bed

Making up a still bed

Making up a still bed

So I’m notching my spine with thorns pulled from your thumb

Notching my spine with thorns pulled from your thumb

And I am swallowing my, I’m swallowing my bees down

I’m buckling my, I’m buckling my knees up

I’m eating my own hide to hide in my own skin

I’m eating my own hide to hide in my own skin

'Til I am left a-hanging upside down and draining

Like skinned does a-dangling from a hunter’s oak limb

Like my sisters, those does, woven in red shrouds

And wearing bare ribbons of tightly-wrapped muscles

And bearing the burden of being that gift from the forest

That turns humans wooden when opened

So can you, can you, can you tell me?

Can you, can you, can you tell me?

If it’s easier to be emptier but lighter

If it’s easier to be the lantern or the fire

If it’s easier to be a lover or an echo

If it’s easier to be the bull or the fighter

And if it’s easier to die by arrows or by tigers

If it’s easier to fly by monarchs or by sparrows

By monarchs or by sparrows

Let me know

And there’s a grizzly bearing in me

There’s a grizzly bearing in me

And in you and in us and in we

And in you and in us and in we

Grizzly paws hide me

And grizzly paws hold me

And grizzly cradles me

Raising me like an offering

Of a bundle of sticks to the sun

Of a bundle of sticks to the sun

Of a bundle of sticks to the sun, to the sun

Now I’m sewing sewing sewing medicine bundles

With grass threads and porcupine quills

And I’m filling them up with galaxy beams

And with all the stars you’ve snuffed

And all the ghosts you’ve been

And with every shape you’ve morphed

And all the trees you’ve stumped

And I’m filling 'em up

With all the blood your heart has pumped and pumped

And with all of the love that your mouth has rushed

And with all of the voices that your ears have rung

And with all of the life that your dirt has sprung

And with all of the magic that your gardens have grown

I’m filling up these bundles with all the seeds

You’ve sown and sown and sown

And all the roots you’ve webbed and all the wind

You’ve blown and blown and blown

All the roots you’ve webbed and all the wind you’ve blown

And I’m filling up these bundles with all the twins you’ve born

And with every brother lost and all the organs you’ve loaned

With every brother lost and all the organs you’ve loaned

So, pick us up, we’re these bundles

Tied with the stems of clover and brambles

Oh, pick us up, we’re these bundles

Wrapped in shrouds of muscles