Morning Talk

By Roberta Hill Whiteman b. 1947

—for Melissa L. Whiteman

“Hi, guy,” said I to a robin

perched on a pole in the middle

of the garden. Pink and yellow

firecracker zinnias, rough green

leaves of broccoli,

and deep red tomatoes on dying stems

frame his still presence.

“I’ve heard you’re not

THE REAL ROBIN. Bird watchers have

agreed,” I said.”THE REAL ROBIN

lives in England. They claim

your are misnamed and that we ought

to call you ‘a red-breasted thrush’

because you are

indigenous.”

He fluffed up. “Am I not

Jis ko ko?” he cried, “that persistent

warrior who carries warmth

northward every spring?”

He seemed so young, his red belly

a bit light and his wings, still

faded brown. He watched me

untangling the hose to water squash.

“Look who’s talking!” he chirruped.

“Your people didn’t come

from Europe or even India.

The turtles say you’re a relative

to red clay on this great island.”

Drops of crystal water

sparkled on the squash.

“Indigenous!” he teased

as he flew by.

FOOTNOTES: Jis ko ko is the Iroquoian name for Robin. In the story, he is a young warrior who confronts the old man of winter. The old man uses ice and brutal winds to keep Jis ko ko’s warmth away from the earth. When the old man shoots him on the chest with an arrow of ice, the young man bleeds and transforms into the bird. Even as a bird, he continues his purpose, bringing warm rain and growth—green leaves, flowers and fruit.

Roberta Hill Whiteman, “Morning Talk” from Philadelphia Flowers. Copyright © 1996 by Roberta Hill Whiteman. Used by permission of Holy Cow! Press, www.holycowpress.org.

Source: Philadelphia Flowers (Holy Cow! Press, 1996)

Biography

Roberta Hill Whiteman, a poet of Wisconsin Oneida heritage, is the author of Star Quilt, a poetry collection which integrates her ancestral culture with European-based approaches to verse. Whiteman grew up in Wisconsin among the Oneida community and also in Green Bay; the family moved between the two locales several times. In previous centuries the Oneida were forced to make a series of moves that displaced them from their . . .

Continue reading this biography