The following tanka sequence was first published in the Fall 2025 edition of Ribbons. The sequence travels geographically across North Dakota from east to west, detailing significant places from my childhood. Tatanka is the Lakota word for bison, a creature of great significance to North Dakotans.

North Dakota Bones

Red River Valley

amidst the powerline forest

and cell tower sentinels

I pull back the quilt

of endless farmland

Drift Prairie

a sea of corn

washes over the hills

drowning my judgment

of those who still live here

returning home

after twenty years

my appreciation grows

for this land of sky and nothing

and the limitless horizon

the Badlands

the scruffy bison lumber

over sage and cacti

surrounding our car

we yield to their right-of-way

Little Missouri River

we cross the muddy water

just kids with tans

collecting tatanka bones

misfit sons of the prairie