after a story told by Johnny Moses

She thought it had to be a bear
raking the bushes
near where she herself was picking
berries just starting to fill
her basket so she sang
to keep her courage up
and as the rustling sounds
the creature made
came closer
so her singing rose
higher and higher
till at last
rounding a bush
she saw what she had feared
and screamed Suyápi!
Upside Down Face!
not a bear
a man of sorts
but unlike any she had known
his shiny pate quite hairless
while a mass
of hair hung down
below his chin
and so suyápi
upsidedownface
came to be the name for us anglos among the Kootenai
her people
as if honoring that moment
of first contact