retro-migration

retracing ancestral steps
I find my signature written across the world

I am the ancestor of myself
inside me

before I knew this name
I lived

in New Zealand on ancient Maori totems
my eyes are carved

Hindu statues of Bali laugh when I approach
recognizing an old friend

inside Bandelier cliff dwellings a fire burns
welcoming me home

in Nepalese temples the stones 
call to me in dreams

Indigenous Peoples cave paintings 
my hands ache

I look in wonder at what I created 
only forgotten

I cannot see until I step outside
the continent of me

In soil, water and blood
I reflect

forming a new once again
renaming myself

over and over I become
part of this land

creating stories of pasts 
about where the I was born

yet, a myth
all along  

Coming Soon: Meandering Existence (2021)