Aisoyimstan (Snow Creatures- Free Verse- Momaday)

I am the breath that freezes when men speak. /
I am the white mounds that shield sleeping gardens. /
I am the powder that coats bare branches. /
I am the drum beat of icicles melting. /
I am the plains rolling in purple shadow. /
I am the whisper of hooves cushioned by snow. /
I am the hissing of sleet at midnight. /
I am the silver moon shining on the snowbanks. /
I am the snow like falling stars landing at your feet. /

I am the spine of the lumbering Earth. /
I am life.  I am winter. //

Giovanni Boldini. Caballo Bianco, ca. 1880s. Wikipaintings. (Original.)

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New Series: Snow Creatures

Aisoyimstan is a part of Blackfoot mythology.  This ghostly white man has white clothing and hair, rides a white horse, and freezes the Earth and covers it with snow.

The form of this poem was inspired by “The Delight Song of Tsoai-talee” by N. Scott Momaday.

This is a new series – Snow Creatures – although the creatures are technically spirits, legends, and myths.

Muybridge. White Horse, 1887. Wikimedia.

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