The Sharp-Breasted Snake
(Hо̄kpē Fuskē)
The Muskogee’s hokpi—
fuski (Loch Ness
Monster)
Travelled here
by the Camp of
The Sac and Fox;
Thru the alluvial
Gombo soil, flailing
Thrashing-up rooting
Giant trees;
Ploughed deep
With its sharp breast.
Come to rest by
Tuskeegi Town, buried
its self in a lake of
mud to rest. The
warriors of Tustanuggi
were ordered to shoot
it with a silver tipped
arrow. With a great
roar and upheaval The
Snake moved on;
winding by Okmulgee
To enter (Okta hutchee)
South Canadian River.
Thus his ploughed
journey, The Creeks
called (Hutchee
Sofkee) Deepfork
River.
One, Cholaka,
observed The Snake
had hypnotic Power.
Could draw a person
into a swirling
whirlpool. It
made a sound
Like a
Tinkling
silver
Bell.
O
k
i
s
c
e.
Credits
Film by Monte Nickles and James B. Joyce.
Part of Songs at the Confluence: Indigenous Poets on Place, a digital event produced by Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation and Tippet Rise in collaboration with In-Na-Po (Indigenous Nations’ Poets).
From Caught in a Willow Net, Greenfield Review Press, 1983. Reproduced with permission.