Issue 40: Momma's Love Itch | by Featured Writer Elizabeth Woody
My first mothers did not have wombs. I have two original ancient mothers in this glittering world. They imparted wisdom to us when we were not yet real people. Their mythical bodies enliven the stone.
Momma's Love Itch by Featured Writer Elizabeth Woody
In the worst snowstorm in the High Mountain Desert of the Navajo Nation, your father and his brothers sat in the truck back under sheepskin. You are kicking away in my womb in the cab. Your uncle-in-law navigates blind in the snow as Aunt Bessie directs us on the rough unpaved roads. No signs anywhere. On every bump I scream. We get stuck over and over.
Your dad and uncles push on the pickup when it is stuck. They jack up the truck and push it over out of ruts. I am still screaming. Your uncle-in-law gets a charley horse and we both scream. Your Aunty starts laughing hysterically at this point.
We didn’t make it to the Catholic hospital I wanted. We ended up at the Presbyterian Church Mission hospital at Ganado. The doctor is tiny. So small he can’t push my gurney in. I am crying, “Get me a life-size doctor.” It was the most pain I ever felt.
When you were born, the sun broke through and lit up the windows. The drops melting on the icicles on the window rang out music in the light. It was the most beautiful music. This was your birth, and I knew I would never be alone anymore. You are my light. My blood song….
View more from Momma's Love Itch.
Elizabeth Woody (Navajo/Warm Springs/Wasco/Yakama) has published poetry, short fiction, essays, and is a visual artist. Her first collection of poetry, Hand Into Stone, received a 1990 American Book Award. Luminaries of the Humble, UAZ, and Seven Hands, Seven Hearts, Prose and Poetry (Eighth Mountain Press) reached print in 1994. In March 2016, Woody was the first Native American to be named Poet Laureate of Oregon by Governor Kate Brown.
Issue 40 Highlights
Issue 40: Force of Nature by Michael Nagle | Artwork by Kirk Read
Issue 40: Our Lady of the Thaw by Marina Gross-Hoy
Issue 40: Yes, I talk shit. by nawa angel a.h.
Issue 40: sporadically present by Featured Artist S.J.
Issue 40: everyday awe by Mayur Chauhan
Issue 40: Momma's Love Itch by Featured Writer Elizabeth Woody
Artists and Writers
We’re looking for features! To enter KHÔRA’s collaborative waters:
Team-based, collaborative, and curated, KHÔRA is a form that is continually opening. We invite you to join us in sustaining it together. We don't believe in rejections. KHÔRA’s 500 Words is about considering how multiple voices can be heard; how frameworks, traditions, and projects can inform each other; and how new perspectives emerge from collaboration and openness. If you are a visual artist or interested in sharing your artwork or images, ready about KHÔRA’s Images here.
If you love what you’re seeing, please subscribe, share, tweet, retweet, and post, and KHÔRA will be back soon with more from Issue 40.
With galactic gratitude,
Leigh Hopkins
and the Corporeal/KHÔRA squad