“Kha Po Owinge – Avanyu”
by Michelle Tsosie Sisneros

Acrylic/Pastel on Watercolor Paper

Image: 7.5” x 11.5”
Framed: 14.5″ x 18.5″

Kha Po Owinge – Avanyu

In my Tewa world…
The Avanyu is honored everyday.
For without our water priest – we would die…
Of thirst and starvation,
The creator gave us the water Serpent to help us find water,
To teach us how precious it is.
To remind us of why our people had to migrate to places far, far away…
Always in search of the gift of water.
My people are called people of the water…
And yet as modernism, colonization, entitlement and so on
Engulfs our Tewa world,
Will our young remember this?
I think so,
For our elders teach us well.
Kunda Wohaa