The See Far Place

by Denise Lajimodiere

In all places either remarkable by their position, or by the gearings of the savages, they shall take care to plant high crosses, as it were to take possession of those places in the name of the Catholic religion.

— Msgr. J. O. Plessis

(instructions given to missionary priests)

On the highest butte

in the Turtle Mountains

a tall cross has been planted.

The Ojibwe call the butte Atacaamaabiwin, the place from

which to see far. Scouts watched o

ver plains to the south

flat as a stretched and staked

buffalo hide, waiting for nadowessi

and when spotted sounded

an alarm by lighting a fire

signaling others deep in the hills,

brush and tree covered

backs of turtle’s carapace.

-

Butte St Paul

named by Reverend George A. Belcourt,

January 25, 1850

when he was caught in a blizzard

and hunkered down by the butte.

-

The steep, rocky path

lined with swollen chokecherries,

winds its way to the top.

Aroma of sage and sweet grass waft

from freshly cut fields below.

-

A tall stone and cement cairn emerge,

a defiant red cloth covers the high cross,

Sun Dance sage crowns tied to four corners,

eagle plumes dance in the rising heat

as many eyed dragonflies keep watch, vigilant.

DENISE LAJIMODIERE is an enrolled citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, Belcourt, North Dakota. She is a poet, scholar, dancer, and an Ojibwe birch bark biting artist. She recently retired as an associate professor at North Dakota State University and resides on the Turtle Mountain Reservation.