SPIDER

Koogoom-inaa-geesees. That's what they call me.
Koogoom-inaa-geesees? Means “spider” in Cree
It comes from the word, Koogoom, which means, “your grandmother”. For instance, noogoom, that means, “my grandmother”. Koogoom, that means “your grandmother”. Oogooma, that means “his/her grandmother”.This last because, as with all Indigenous languages in North America, Cree has no gender.
Again? First person, second person, third person
Noogoom, koogoom, oogooma “My grandmother, your grandmother, his/her grandmother.” As for the suffix, “inaa-gees,” at the end of “koogoom-inaageesees,” It means “creature” or “being”. Thus does “koogoom-inageesees” mean “grandmother creature” or “grandmother being” That's Cree for “spider” which is what I am, a koogoom-inaa-gees, the wisest, the most ancient of creatures...

I have a story to tell you. You decide whether it is for good or for bad. Because, as we all know, we have to be careful about what kind of stories we listen to. This is one of my favourites! But, it has repercussions…

I am the planet's most ancient of creatures
I go back beyond the age of, the era of dinosaurs
I am older than the oldest and largest of rocks
Do we go back to the era of caves? Of course.

So I have a very long memory indeed
And for you humans, that memory goes from one generation
To the next and the next and the next and the next and the next.

But with spiders one generation is a billion generations
A single generation is a billion generations… A Billion!

I was here when Jacques Cartier arrived here
I was here when Columbus got lost in the ocean
I was here when Moses came down from the mountain
I was here when the Greeks gave flight to emotion

I was here when God said “Let there be light!”
I was here when the ocean parted from the earth
I was here when the first root surfaced for air
I was here when a woman named Eve gave birth

Snake Sings:
I am here.I am here.
So here in god’s own garden,
I writhed up this tree
From which hangs fruit to
Encourage you to eat
Eat of it and think…
Heed my work
Head my work
And you’ll take root.

Spider:
As the smartest, wisest woman who ever breathed air
My dear, God is smart and he wants to remain so
But if you can prove that you're smarter than him
Then he'll fall from the sky thus losing his power , no?”

So the woman ate the apple but got caught red-handed
By who? By God who, grossly angered, said,
“Out of my garden, out with your kind,
And be forever shameful, be forever dead.”

And how do I know this?
Because I was there.
Perched on a leaf
Of that fruit tree fair.
Weaving my web
And watching and listening
Eviction from the garden…
I was there…