Ancestor Ritual
By Joan Paulette Dudley
Write in the ink of the grandmothers: ash from a cold hearth,
tears that fall for no reason, and blood from a needle-pricked finger.
List your fears on a paper bag, pulled from under the sink.
Build a fire with sticks that skitter down the alley all night.
Burn your list on the dark moon, and recite your grandmothers’ names:
Alma, Lydia, Helena, Maria, Eudokhia. . .
Photo/Joan Paulette Dudley.
Joan Paulette Dudley teaches writing at the College of Southern Nevada and creates programming events for Boulder City Library. Her work has appeared in various anthologies and journals including Sandstone and Silver: An Anthology of Nevada Poets, Clark: Poetry from Clark County, Nevada, Legs of Tumbleweed, Wings of Lace: Nevada Women Poets, Helen, 300 Days of Sun, Fox Adoption, Blacktop Passages, and Interim. When not writing poetry and fiction, she enjoys hiking and kayaking with her husband in the deserts, mountains, and rivers near her home on traditional Chemehuevi and Southern Paiute land in Boulder City, Nevada.