Say It: No Tenure

by Fred Wah

In Chinook wawa we could say
“wake kunjih yaka chako halo”

Indelible

we could say “Wake” meaning “No”
while Calamity Creek moans

remember Nowitka said yes
to “upholding the wild” (lemolo)

we could say that
what could we not say
won’t stop saying that place

Never will it become gone
“wake kunjih yaka chako halo”