While Marco Polo dictated his memoirs in prison
The black death he brought back devastated Europe.
Around the world the Pueblo people
Worshipped Spider Woman.
With red, yellow, white, and black clay
Sussitanako created the people of the four races.
Around them she wove creative wisdom
Spun from her body.
To each she attached a thread of her web
To the doorway at the top of the head.
If the door was allowed to close,
One was cut off from her creative wisdom.
Descendants polished their pottery with river pebbles.
Dung-fired pit kilns reduced red clay to black.
Nickels once commemorated Indian and buffalo
While railroads ransacked west.