These found poems are drawn from interviews with elderly citizens of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation recorded in 1937-38 as part of the Indian-Pioneer History Project sponsored by the federal Works Progress Administration and archived at the Oklahoma Historical Society and the University of Oklahoma. You can read more about this project at Tribal College and Reckoning. —Eds.
the east was always a direction of respect
the old country
in the talks of the older indians
has been often referred to
and to them has been
hvsossv lecv under the
rising of the sun
the rising of the sun in the east
denoted the new day
as well as the new sun
which to them was representative of
the beginning of a life
the east was a mother country
and home to them
and they never fully forgot their life there
they had enjoyed their own hunting grounds
their life as they wished it lived
and the other things that came dear to them
they had first planted their customs and beliefs
in the old eastern country home
where they were strictly observed and kept up
nothing was ever done
either in ceremonial or medicine
unless the east was faced
even during the birth of children
the east was always faced by the woman
the old customs of the old country
are being followed when
the medicine of the tribe
is taken when facing the east
Siah Hicks, b. ca. 1879
