God Wears Many Skins: Sami Myth and Folklore in a New Poetic Interpretation (Voices of Indigenous Peoples)

Traditional indigenous cultures in many parts of the world have displayed a profound appreciation of the relationship between human and ecosystem health, something global culture is trying to rediscover under the label of sustainability.

A spiritual resource for sustainable living, this poem records the creation story of the Sami, a nomadic people of Northern Europe, and then retells several Scandinavian folk-tales derived from their playfully animistic world view. Their deep kinship with the wild is shown in their awe for bears:

The bear is more like people are
Than any other thinking creature:
He stands up on two legs to strike,
With eyes that skewer like a spike,
And when we cut away his skin
He looks like a great bloody man.

Jabez L. Van Cleef takes foundational texts from many oral traditions and religions and creates a common poetic format to preserve, promote and disseminate the values of these cultures. Find out more at www.sustainyourspirit.com