What can this poem by Linda Hogan possibly mean?

Question

TITLE: First Light

In early morning
I forget I'm in this world
with crooked chiefs
who make federal deals.

In the first light
I remember who rewards me for living,
not bosses
but singing birds and blue sky.

I know I can bathe and stretch,
make jewelry and love
the witch and wise woman
living inside, needing to be silenced
and put at rest for work's long day.

In the first light
I offer cornmeal
and tobacco.
I say hello to those who came before me,
and to birds
under the eaves,
and budding plants.

I know the old ones are here
And every morning I remember the song
about how buffalo left through a hole in the sky
and how the grandmothers look out from those holes watching over us
from there and from there.

(POEMS ARE BRAIN THERAPY)

***Who are the crooked chiefs and the Federal deals?

Answer 1

The beginning is a new start. She can look back on the old and look forward to the new. She can be whatever she wants to be, because it's a new day and a new chance. And all this happens at the beginning.

Answer 2

Rae, the poem is about how a Native American can Always return to the Earth, to his/her ancesters and to his/her roots to find what is TRULY inside of him or her self.
She mentions in the first stanza, crooked chiefs and Federal Deals, The crooked chiefs are the Tribal leaders who always seem to have their hands in the Tribal coffers and enrich themselves at the expense of the ordinary member of the Tribe. Federal Deals refer to "special consessions that are made in the name of the Tribe to allow certain things to go on in and around reservations that always seem to end up with the Indian Nations losing some of their heritage in the final outcomes.

The rest of her poem is giving thanks to Mother Earth and Father Sky for reminding her that she is Indian and no matter what happens and who tries to take control of her, that is the ONE thing that can never be taken away, her Indianness. She offers cornmeal and tobacco to the four directions the Earth and the sky so that the Earth will replenish itself for her and the whole of humanity. She acknowledges that the Spirit world AND her ancestors ARE watching over her and willl guide her onto the red path (The Indian Way). It's a "song" of her heritage and of her culture and how it seems to be disappearing and how she is sorowful for that but that there are many reminders to the people just HOW easy it is to return to that path.

BB,
Raji the Green Witch

Answer 3

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/awDBR

I'll try to dissect it: At the spring we hear the great seas traveling underground, giving themselves up with tongue of water that sing the earth open. ---- Let's see if it makes sense or not. Now you're probably confused, just as I am/was, sort of, about what it means. You may have thought that the "Spring" she said meant the season. I thought about a few definitions, and concluded that it is being used as a source of water. It makes sense, springs may be underground, and when they come up, or "spout" at the top, it is referred to as "giving themselves up" ---- They have journeyed through the graveyards of our loved ones, turning in their grave to carry the stories of life to air. ---- The path of the spring may have traveled through a graveyard. But it might not be what you think, such as a cemetery, it might be a battle field, or a holocaust camp, or something of the like. When the water flows through these "battle fields" or whatever it may be, it "brings", in a sense, the "story" with it. ---- Even the trees with their rings have kept track of the crimes that live within and against us. ---- Basically, nature has kept track of the atrocities that men have committed. ---- We remember it all. We remember, though we are just skeletons whose organs and flesh hold us in. We have stories as old as the great seas breaking through the chest, flying out the mouth, noisy tongues that once were silenced, all the oceans we contain coming to light. ---- The poet is reminiscing that we remember what we have done. I'm probably wrong, but I'm just saying it's a possibility, it may be referring to the crimes we have committed which were discovered by underwater search crews, for example, the bodies of children that were killed by American Soldiers were found at the bottom of the ocean. This is a really confusing poem though, hope I helped.

Answer 4

linda hogan is a native american writer and activist (she is a chickasaw).

like many professional native americans she believes everything good in the world comes from her racial heritage, and that everything bad in the world has been put there by the wicked white man who speak with forked tongue.

in the poem she says the when she wakes up each morning she wakes up as a racial chickasaw (the real linda hogan) and the world is a good place. it is only as she goes through the day (and in her memory of the day before) that she has to deal with the wickedness and corruption of state- and federal-government officers and activities ('crooked chiefs who make federal deals).

Answer 5

Basically its about forgetting the complexity and mess of the modern world, and going back to the basics-Mother Nature. The last two stanzas appear a direct reference to Native American Culture, remembering those who originally occupied the land, and their stories.

Answer 6

the poet is simply contrasting the freshness and brightness of the morning, with its air and its special light, to the stuffiness of the world, its pollution, and also to the corruption rampant in all forms of government... the poet is stirring within the reader, hopefully, an appreciation of the finer things in life, which are remembrance, family roots, nature and its function within our lives. her last line indicates she is perhaps a shaman, or an American Indian. her poem is quite uplifting, and a nice example of modern poetry.

Answer 7

Linda Hogan Heritage

Answer 8

Waking up in the early morning attending to the most important, lasting, and nourishing things in life--nature, her inner self, her ancestors--instead of the power struggles and busy-ness of the modern world that will be encountered in the day that lies ahead of her.

Answer 9

you got me as i haven;t a clue.

Answer 10

idk. lol!