The Round Dance begins and Danny and I put down our morning coffee to join a single connected circle on the grassy field at Oregon State Penitentiary. We are in an enclosed yard where Lakota Oyate-ki Native Culture Club holds Saturday sweat lodge, as well as the annual Pow Wow. We have been invited into a holy space, made so as much by the weekly prayers as the cooking of a feast on this August day. This year, we have missed the Grand Procession of dancers dressed in full regalia, and sadly the donuts are all gone, though the day has only started.
Upon arrival to this prison back lot, we are ushered by a Correctional Officer alongside the Solitary Housing Unit’s caged yards through a hamster trail of locked outdoor gates until we are released into the concrete-walled site. We are greeted and smudged before we enter the gathering, which was staged at 6:30 in the morning. The first crew sets up tents and tables; they prepare huge outdoor grills which are now laden with venison, elk, salmon, and even eel donated by the tribes. The makeshift kitchen is buoyant. Aunties are stretching dough, as they drop it into hot grease for much anticipated fry bread. Men from other clubs at OSP volunteer to cook and serve food so that the members of the Lakota club can focus on their families and guests. It is a joy to see the smile on Jimmy Kashi’s face as he inhabits his natural spot, sweating over the heat of a grill.
Everyone is invited to the Round Dance. It draws our attention to our feet connecting to the uneven grass —lifting and stepping with the heartbeat of the drum until we are unified. The leader breaks, turns and shakes his neighbor’s hand and continues down the line. Each of us follows suit, snaking back inside the circle greeting each person with a handshake until we have all have greeted friend and stranger alike. We return to coffee and conversation, smelling the roasting meat. The dancers take their places and the day ensues.
In our 2022 anthology, Prisons Have A Long Memory, Nolan James Briden answered a question posed by a middle school kid: What do you remember of the outside world? Nolan wrote about the smell of grease working on cars with Dad and connecting to his Blackfeet ancestors at Pow Wow:
I would watch all the different dancers in their regalia and hear the sound of the drum and the sharp-pitch blast of song would hit me with an energy that made my heartbeat and feet move. I remember going to the Sun Dance and feeling a balance that made everything seem okay.
As I look around, his words echoed in my head. Nolan, who was so central to the creation of our PonyXpress workshops shipped out to Snake River well over a year ago. Another dancer wears his regalia Saturday. All afternoon, flashes of the green and red catch my eye.
For all the joy in this gathering, a little sadness is also dislodged. Absences come into sharp focus. We are keenly aware that Nolan isn’t dancing today. An important member of the community is remembered in stories, prayers. And at day’s end, we sense the acute longing of family members as they say goodbye.
Hugh Crow, from Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution shared Eulogy for My Grandfather in the writing workshop a few months ago:
He lived and breathed with an all or nothing attitude,
a cause of trauma and pain that tore at his virtue,
strained relations, bipolar with depression he tried to dislodge that anchor,
said I'm happy — no I'm not — why must I fight this anger?
Our staff advisor Leslie recognized how meaningful it would be for Hugh’s Nana to hear his voice reading this tribute and so she arranged for Hugh to make a recording. Looking back, we found The Ceremony, the first piece Hugh submitted on the PonyXpress: Grandfather’s blessing has come/ He sings of tradition in native tongue/ The Grand Entry of souls/ now becoming one.
The day winds to a close. Stressla Lynn Johnson takes the lid off a paper cup. Inside he finds fresh fruit with a perfect strawberry on top. He tells me that he can’t recall the last time he had eaten one. With over 38 years inside, Stressla has learned to savor the moment. He takes a bite and a wide smile crosses his face. I read the joy. He tells us that the spirit of Pow Wow can easily hold him for two months. | TDS