Ggax Kucae'e

Ggax Kucae'e. Rabbit Area River Mouth. , The river says something different every day., Under Summer's long sun, it rocks and rolls. Glaciers melt, waters rise. In upland rivers you can hear big stones rolling down. First salmon and then more people come. The silty Copper absolutely sings. Fish wheels turn in the current. Dip nets plunge. Banks erode, ka-ploosh, cave in. Unseen upriver, a tree falls and snags, makes a rush within the river's rushing sound., Autumn tones the ruckus down. A rustle of cottonwood and aspen trees drift golden leaves. Above the bluff's camphor smell of wild sage, Raven catches the wind, caws. Trumpeter swans feel the creep of ice, take wing., Winter is a rest note of darkness and bitter cold. Glaciers quit melting and sleep. The river freezes over. A whooshing sound, like a quietly passing train, fills the growing space between the now clear, dropping river water and its thick surface of ice. With a dry crunch of footsteps on below-zero snow, wolves cross the river on a star filled night., Spring breaks Winter's grip with a slow murmur that goes on for weeks. Pressure ridges sing a slowed down version of the wind. Then one day, with a huge groan, heard upriver and down, monstrous ice chunks shift. The river begins to move. Soon spring birds will tell the elders that the salmon are coming again., See with your ears, , Listen with your heart. , , Ahtna elder's advice, Ggax Kucae'e is the oldest name for the place where you stand in Ahtna Athabaskan, the language of the Copper River Basin and the name of its people. The network of Ahtna place names is an audible map that follows the river's flow and direction.