Tuesday, 6 November 2012

Native American Heritage Month: 'Dis Place,' a Poem by Janet Rogers

source: National Archives and Records Administration, 111-SC-82320.

Chiricahua Apache prisoners, including Geronimo (first row, third from right), seated on an embankment outside their railroad car, Arizona, 1886.

Dis Place

It takes miles
to understand
histories so complexxx
perspectives so powerful
they need three DC museums
to tell the same story

it appears to be true
the more machine
gun toting soldiers
you see
the more normal
complacency
you tell me
how beautiful
for gracious skies

things never
change
the black man monument
built to honour
have him standing
tall and proud
cast in a white so stark
it sinks words
used to sail across
the Potomic

chatter, distracts
silence, kills
movement is truth
wrapped in conviction
folded in faith
hidden behind intention
saved by liberation

there is honour
among thieves
and a clearer understanding
of social roles
there never was
they came here
to take
interfere
and they kill

any questions?

at least crooks
bring death quick
and absolute
while double sided
blades of politics
twist long
and slow
sending not only
you but your
descendants to
the same grave

be witness to this

any questions?

Janet Marie Rogers, Mohawk writer from the Six Nations territory in southern Ontario, is Poet Laureate of Victoria, British Columbia. To learn more about her, visit janetmarierogers.com

Source: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/11/04/native-american-heritage-month-dis-place-a-poem-by-janet-rogers-143986

gabby giffords geithner gabrielle giffords juliette lewis chelsea handler mitch daniels shirataki noodles

No comments:

Post a Comment