MPA Student Work

Here's a creative assignment that Siri Bani Kaur aka Ananda Shanti Kuri Robles Gil wrote after reading the novel, Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko. She captures details of the themse of the novel while communicating her individual understanding of its essence.

The Ceremony


Running through the entrails of the world
Running through the Mother Earth
Running through Spider Woman
All the stories start creating sense
Everything is connected
Every single story it’s an essential star in the path of the ceremony
Without just one of these stars
The whole meaning of the sky would change
“The only cure I know is a good ceremony” She said
put your hand in the belly and feel it
feel the life, feel the rituals and ceremonies
they are not destroyed, they are not death
they do not stop, they keep growing and growing
loose your mind and feel them
The witchery can confuse you
The evil can make you believe the lie
Then you would forget Spider Woman
you would forget all the life that surrounds you
don’t believe in the witchery
don’t destruct yourself and everything else
don’t be part of the mighty evil
instead touch the belly, loose your mind and feel it
yes, return to your roots
escape from your jail
yes, touch the belly
and believe in the miracle
the magic of life
you are part of the life
So you are the miracle
The roots are inside you
Spider Woman lives within you
Can’t you feel her?
then touch the belly
it is not YOUR belly, it is THE belly
the entrails of the world
that connect us together
the whole story of the world is within you
not in the mind, you won’t find it there
Yes! There… in the belly
Where the Ceremony beats stronger and stronger
Can’t you feel it?
It is not YOUR Ceremony, it is THE Ceremony
We are all connected
even if you can’t feel it
even if you are in prison
yes even if you are prisoner of your own mind
even if you believe in death, in destruction
even if you can not see life
even if you do not know you are the Miracle
even then, Spider Woman lives inside you
hiding somewhere from your destruction
even if you do not want to feel her
she lives inside your belly
connecting you with everything she has created
making you the Miracle
you can deny her if you want to
just wait… wait… wait…
because she is getting stronger and stronger
soon
soon you won’t able to to deny her anymore
she will beat in your belly so hard…
you won’t b able to deny her anymore
“And in the belly of this story the rituals and
the Ceremony are still growing”
…still growing
…still growing
…still growing!
Set in motion now
Set in motion by our magic
To work for us
Set in motion now
Set in motion
To create
To make miracles
Life to work for us
Life to act for us
Performing the Miracle
For joy
For passion
For love
For the soul
The miracle!
Whirling
Whirling
Whirling
Whirling
Set into motion now
Set into motion.