Sacred Headwaters - Skookum Wawa

As the oral statements at the so-called public hearings of the Joint Review Panel wrap up, we all need a little encouragement to overcome the depressing spectacle of locked doors and police officers surrounding this increasingly bizarre process. On Feb. 2, communities of the northwest will be gathering in Terrace to celebrate the withdrawal of Shell's plans to drill for coal bed methane in the Sacred Headwaters. Congratulations to all of those who worked so hard to pull this off - and thanks for all you're doing to help fight this next threat to the last wild salmon watersheds in BC.

When Ali Howard was swimming the length of the Skeena to draw attention to the threats Shell's plans presented, I wrote this poem to celebrate her achievement. Those of you from points inland might need a bit of background for the Chinook terms. I grew up on the south coast of BC where Chinook terms were commonplace: The ocean was the salt chuck; the wild rapids near Egmont on the Sechelt Peninsula  are called Skookum Chuck, which means powerful water. In 1975, Gary Geddes edited a collection of writing about the northwest, which he fittingly titled Skookum Wawa - powerful talk.

Skookum Wawa

 

Mountains.

Green meadows.

Spring grizzly grazing

in water welling through rooted sedges.

Waiting water

meanders until flatness finally falls,

falls in three directions.

Water becoming:

becoming Spatsizi, becoming Stikine, becoming Tahltan

becoming Nass, becoming Nisga’a

becoming Skeena, becoming Gitxsan, becoming Tsimshian,

the ancient submerged heart pumping

            oxygen

            salmon

            life into this land.

Bright children leap laughing

to fall, to follow,

to trace in faith one great artery on its way

into the wide arms

of the salt chuck.

Chinook talk

their talk

skookum wawa.