By Joseph Bruchac
Seeing photos
of ancestors
a century past
is like looking
at your own
fingerprints—
circles
and lines
you can’t
recognize
until someone else
with a stranger’s eye
looks close and says
that’s you.
Joseph Bruchac, "Prints" from Sing: Poetry from the Indigenous Americas. Copyright © 2011 by Joseph Bruchac. Reprinted by permission of Joseph Bruchac.
Source: Sing: Poetry form the Indigenous Americas (University of Arizona Press, 2011)
Poet Bio
Poet and storyteller Joseph Bruchac was born in Greenfield Center, New York and is the author of more than 120 books for adults and children. In his work, Bruchac explores his Abenaki ancestry and Native American storytelling traditions.
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