Ceremony

The following poem transcribed from the preface to the book Ceremony, by Leslie Marmon Silko, 1977:

Ceremony

I will tell you something about stories

[he said]

They aren't just entertainment.

Don't be fooled.

They are all we have, you see,

all we have to fight off 

illness and death.

You don't have anything

if you don't have the stories.

Their evil is mighty

but it can't stand up to our stories.

So they try to destroy the stories

let the stories be confused or forgotten.

They would like that

They would be happy

Because we would be defenseless then.

He rubbed his belly.

I keep them here

[he said]

Here, put your hand on it

See, it is moving.

There is life here

for the people.

And in the belly of this story 

the rituals and the ceremony

are still growing.

- Preface to Ceremony, (c) Leslie Marmon Silko, 1977