“And even though you said today you felt better, and it is so late in this poem, is it okay to be clear, to say, I don’t feel good, to ask you to tell me a story about the sweetgrass you planted – and tell it again or again – until I can smell its sweet smoke, leave this thrashed field, and be smooth.”

“And even though you said today you felt better, and it is so late in this poem, is it okay to be clear, to say, I don’t feel good, to ask you to tell me a story about the sweetgrass you planted – and tell it again or again – until I can smell its sweet smoke, leave this thrashed field, and be smooth.”

— Natalie Diaz