Prince Rupert, British Columbia

The presentation by Sharon Granger attuned us to the Tsimshian people and their phenomenal capacity for presenting their view of the world through art, dance, song and food. Our visit to the museum included object after object which conveyed the raven, the eagle, the wolf and the killer whale. Then, when entering the long house, having our headmen before us, we were somewhat prepared for what would transpire. But even the imagination fails to anticipate dancing reality as conveyed by a storyteller, in full regalia, who welcomes you like a friend who has returned after being away for a long time. The raven dance was utterly compelling. We could not see the faces of the dancers. One in particular seemed to have observed the raven’s actual motions, and I asked him later how he came to know it. He had watched the elders and the birds and has gotten better at it over the summer though, he said, he had a long way to go. These moves prompted a little poem:

Yes, the head turns
like a raven
Yes, the crouched body
moves like a raven
Yes, the movements
bespeak close observation
by Wallace Stevens
or Poe or us
looking at the raven,
seeing the dancer.