All My Relations

I want to thank all my relations
for this chance to be on Earth
in her time of flourishing; to thank
the First People of this place,
to honor their sovereignty in long
and continuing relation, still teaching us
how we might be here together; to thank
my mother and father, moon and sun,
for setting me forth before their own
passing on; to thank my grandmother
who listened to me so eloquently I learned
to listen to my own heart and mind, to find
stories and songs there; to thank my family
and friends, and all citizens and travelers
who study and work for deeper kinship
in this place, with one another, and with
all creatures, one Earth, visible, palpable,
fragile, intricate, resonant, in need of our
better stories. I want to thank you
who have gathered to receive what I have
carried here—in hope that something
I have may meet something you need,
so all our relations may be strengthened
for this life we live together.

Amen.

Kim Stafford was named Oregon’s ninth Poet Laureate by Gov. Kate Brown in May 2018 for a two-year term. He travels the state to share the power of poetry to help communities become more curious about their own stories, more emotionally open, and better prepared to exercise freedom in speech to heal our divisions. Stafford teaches at Lewis & Clark College, and is the author of a dozen books of poetry and prose, most recently How to Sleep Cold, from Limberlost Press.