There on my office wall
above Waterman's map
of the village that the Yurok
called Tsurai
with native names
for all the rocks
the seastacks in the bay
I've hung the framed artwork
of my friend Dorothy

It is a playful piece
botanically accurate
but whimsical as well
the understated colors
blues and greys and yellows
seem natural, the label
identifies the subject
as twin zea mays
two ears of indian corn

A pair of birds in flight
these whispy ears of corn
one chasing close behind
the other through a plain white sky
their bodies, beaks and wings
the cobs, the husks and tassels
so different from the corn we know
these small ancestral plants
with kernels sitting in the cobs
like rows of tiny teeth

What was behind the drawing?
perhaps the indian corn
reflected in some way
her work with native children
this teacher who believed in bringing
art and dance and drama
into the classroom and the lives
of the less privileged
hoping to give them something real
to nourish pride
self worth and creativity

She left us far too soon
only months after our last
walk in the Arizona sun
along a dry arroyo
east of Tucson
now I feel her presence
in these twin ears of corn
playful and serious at once
chasing eachother through
a different sky, another world
beyond this one