Ofelia Zepeda
Ofelia Zepeda Poems
She said she felt the earth move again.
I never knew whether she meant she felt a tremor
or whether it was the rotation of the earth.
...
Food is put in place for the ancestors.
Prayer sticks are buried for the saguaro, for the season, for the earth.
Songs are sung for the spiritual health of everyone, everything.
...
Someone said it is going to rain.
I think it is not so.
Because I have not yet felt the earth and the way it holds still
...
Ñ-ku'ibadkaj ‘ant ‘an ols g cewagi.
With my harvesting stick I will hook the clouds.
‘Ant o'i-waññ'io k o ‘i-hudiñ g cewagi.
...
E-atki ‘ep ‘ai mat o ‘e-keihi go'odham
o ‘e-keihi kut hab masma ab o ‘i ha-miabi g ju:ki
‘apt ge cuhug oidk o ka:d mat hab o kaijjid:
...
We travel carrying our words.
We arrive at the ocean.
With our words we are able to speak
...
The sun has moved over that way a bit.
Here come the clouds.
They are so very white,
...
Question: Can you tell us about what he is wearing?
Well, the hooves represent the deer's hooves,
the red scarf represents the flowers from which he ate,
...
She always got mad at him
every time he came home in the middle of the morning
with his pant legs wet.
...
Every day it is the same.
He comes home.
He tells her about it.
...
Cuk Son is a story.
Tucson is a linguistic alternative.
The story is in the many languages
still heard in this place of
Black Mountains.
...
The scent of burning wood holds
the strongest memory.
Mesquite, cedar, piñon, juniper,
...
Ofelia Zepeda Biography
Ofelia Zepeda (born in Stanfield, Arizona, 1952) is a Tohono O'odham poet and intellectual. Zepeda is a professor of linguistics at the University of Arizona and is well known for her efforts in the preservation of her native language and promotion literacy in it. She is the former director of the American Indian Studies Program at the University of Arizona. She is also known for her work as a consultant and advocate on behalf of a number of American indigenous languages. Her book A Papago Grammar is the standard textbook used to teach the Tohono O'odham language. She was a student of MIT linguistics professor Ken Hale. Zepeda has worked with her tribe to improve literacy in both English and Tohono O'odham. In 1983 she developed A Papago Grammar from tapes of Native speakers because no textbook existed for the classes she taught. Her work with the reservation committee for Tohono O'odham language policy yielded an official policy that encourages the speaking of the Native language at all grade levels. In 1999, Zepeda received a MacArthur Fellowship. She is the Poet Laureate of Tucson, Arizona. For several years, she continues to serve as editor for numerous journals and book series. In 2012, her book was banned by Tucson schools.)
The Best Poem Of Ofelia Zepeda
Riding the Earth
She said she felt the earth move again.
I never knew whether she meant she felt a tremor
or whether it was the rotation of the earth.
I like to think she felt the rotation, because anyone can feel a tremor.
And when she felt this she could see herself
standing on the earth's surface.
Her thick wide feet solidly planted, toes digging in.
Her visualization so strong she almost feels her body arch against
the centrifugal force of the rotation.
She sees herself with her long hair floating,
floating in the atmosphere of stardust.
She rides her planet the way a child rides a toy.
Her company is the boy who takes the sun on its daily journey,
and the man in the moon smiles as she passes by.
Ofelia Zepeda Comments
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3/10/2026 3:59:18 PM # 1.0.0
