The Sharp-Breasted Snake

By Louis Little Coon Oliver
Read by Jennifer Elise Foerster

(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.