Poem: People of Cedar and Sea
What wonders the world we live in
Such riches amidst cedar trees
We gather together to harvest the snag
And paddle canoes to float across the seas.
The ocean is abundant with the mighty salmon
Whose fate is to return to spawn and die
With their bones and eyes devoured by gulls
While their eggs in the shallows lie.
Fishing for salmon at Cielo Falls
Longhouses and huts cover us, the bold
From weather that batters the coast stone cold
And families who harvest the treasures there in
That flourish in the water and on land with trees so old.
Cedar trunks, roots and bark, the marvels we make:
Canoes, paddles, stern, keel, house planks, cordage, baskets, drums and clothing.
Travel, housing, papoose, protection from the elements, fear and loathing.
Food from the sea:
Salmon, shellfish, sturgeon, lamprey eel,
Dungeness crab, and lots of marine mollusks to peel.
Food from the land:
Snails, limpets, camas, tarweed seeds, roots, acorns, and berries.
Elk, deer, bison, otter, seals, beaver, weasel, duck, duck, goose.
Henry E. Hooper 