The poem that lingers in my mind is 'On the Road to Shiprock'.
When you have lived the words of her poems, there is a tranquility that puts you at peace. I sat so content and peaceful
knowing how familiar every word that she spoke was to me. I knew of the giggles with her sisters, the sound of the dogs
barking outside, the smell of coffee, and seeing your mother after being apart for many months.
When she read the words of how her mother spoke it was like she knew my mother
and it brought a tear to my eye. She knew the places I lived and experienced the things I did, there
was such a connection, how do you describe this? I was home.
Now that I have time to think of what Lucy was about, she made me proud
of her accomplishment. Most important, I'm so glad, that there is someone out there to put to words how the Navajos
live and think these days. She can write on paper how we talk and what brings laughter to out stomachs. This is
a voice that rings the truth; I only wished that everyone could understand what her words are saying.
There were three 'white students' sitting just in front of me and they
kept laughing and whispering when there were no jokes or anything funny. I understood their laughter as a
misunderstanding on their part because they were the only ones laughing. I see cultural differences all the time
and sometimes people don't understand each other, I only wished they were more respectful.
Lucy mixed words with song that had a nice sound even though the songs
were in Navajo it was understood. For this speaker I should have brought my mother she would have loved it.
She talked about different kinds of poems and how they are written and
she shared with us a poem that she wrote while doing a poetry workshop in Taos, New Mexico. She was saying during this
seminar she gave the audience about 45 minutes to write their own poem while she also wrote one too. The poem she
wrote was fantastic it was about Shiprock and family. I suppose writers write about things they are most familiar with
and it shows in her work. It seems my life was written in her poems it was an absolute pleasure to listen to her.
