Contact us at: whispernthunder1@gmail.comCoyote Echoes
~ Soldier Blue
Coyote echoe
The raw throttle
Sounds of
Sho`-mi-ka-ci
The red glare
Of fire rage
Gi`-ba-ko^
The seeming
Death
Of the sacred...
Sweet medicine
Blotted/stained
Becomes sour...
Bitter as
Poisoned vinegar..
Ni`-ts'a-the
It..begins...
Ghost' hung neatly
As modern fashioned
Shirts..
On a rack..
Pain disturbs the
Wind...
As someone cries out!/...
Sound echoing
In a canine ripple
Across a vast
Wilderness
As another ..
As an apparition
Screams his pain!....
Hung...drawn..
And quartered...
Hung explains itself
Drawn:..ropes tied to limbs
Tied to four beings
Equine in nature
Whips encouraging them
To lunge!...in four different directions...
Squeals of rage!...
Gi`-ba-ko^!...
As horse hooves
Bite the earth
Never their home
Limbs disengage
Dislocate/ a man
Is torn from his life!...
King Phillip!...
King Phillips War!..
Metacom...
His real/ name
Given him by his
People..you!...
Xi^-ha_cka!/
Foisting a crown of tin
Upon his head!...
Do you think!/
Your names on paper
Mean anything to us
Of Red Earth?!..
Coyote howls
At the gnashing
Anguish
Of a mune
Become bloody
Just another desecration
Of the sacred...
Quartered:..
Ta-dse`...
The wind yet
Whispers....siighing...
Attempting a soothing touch
To the trees of the
forest..
Of bristol county
Rhode Island...
O-xtha`-be
Where hung
The four parceled
Pieces
Of a man's body..
Metacom...
In four parts...
We`_do-ba
Fourth!..
The trees
Still stand!..growing
Groaning...bearing witness
To this!/... savagery!...
And you see what?!...
A..."nice " place
For a picnic?!...
Sheltered places
Concrete 'n' Steele..
Blaque glass
to create shade
Wa-bi^`
Blood still leaks
Across the lengths
Of the these shadows..
Ke`-da-xe
Mall of the 'merikkas...
You don't even know what
That really means!..
Locust/low cost
Products..in false front
Shops .
Built on
Sacred ground!..
Sho`_mi-ka-ci
Coyote sings
His screaming verse
Of olde blood
Agony
And we/
Of RedEarth
Must take a
Ceremonial pause..
U-ba`-no^-the
Suck in one more
Choking!/..breath
Sucking in the clench
Of jaw and apprehension...
Praying!/ No one hear it
Feel it/
As our eyes swim
As we come w/
Our application of a/
Permission slip
To be able to
PRAY!...
and hold ceremony!..
At bear Butte!...
You say devil's tower
And wonder at how
It came to be...
We don't wonder?!...
We know!..
It has story!...it holds creation!..
Over fifty two first nations
Know it as a holy place!!...
And yet we must
Apply!..for permission!..
To pray!!/...
Names hold no more
Weight
Than the paper
You write them on!
Sho`_mi-ka-ci
Hides his bones
Throws blankets
Of dust..leaves
'n' shite
As camouflage
Lest you decide
That such bones
Would be a
Good "souvenir"...
Or museum display..
Hu-u-tha`_da-tho^
Echoes thin sound
Becoming fat!/
Inflamed!...
Shattering Sykes
Rolling into the expanse
And distance
Of horizon
Mo^-zho^`_ko^-ha
Mo^-zho^_be_u-shko^-zhi
O^...yea...a wilderness
An uninhabited land
That's what you told
Yourselves
When you "discovered"
Yourselves on our shores!...
Council grounds
At ft. Laramie
Where the Laramie treaties
Were signed
Again and again
And abrogated!!...
Meaning they received
No real stamp of approval!!...
Where we say
And deliberated
Over the losses
And promises given..
Losses and lies!...
The only thing we
Hold from those days
The/ council grounds
Now an asphalt
Blaque top!/...
Deep blaque/
Like a crowes
Wing(s)...
Ka`-xe
A-hiu`
Wings
Of mourning
Death of thousands
Thousands.. millions
Numbers too faceless
To count
To think of
Ts'eeee
Spirit Death
Death of the then
Sacred
In a thousand
Different ways...
Just as the
Alaskan peoples
Have over
One thousand words
To describe the colour
White
Just as the pueblo people
Have over five hundred words
To describe to the colour blue
Just as my people
Have multiple ways
To describe wind
Water...and forest...
Just as all peoples
Of RedEarth
Have many ways
To describe
The life and spirit
Of what we see
Around us...
The land lives
As much as we /do!...
Spirit and functional
Form!/
We take nothing
From her/
Mo^-i^`-ka_i-na
Our mothered earth
That we!/
Can not!/
Give back!/...
Shopping malls
Do not replace lives..
Industrial concerns
Do not take precedence
Over the lifeways
Not your own?!...
That is cultural genocide!!...
Ni`-the!
No^`-xe...
That is spirit
Annihilation!...
A man plants
A forest in another part
Of the world
A man and wife
Return trees and native plants
To an Oasis
They tend in the Amazon
As the Yanomami
PRAY for returns
Of their ancestral lands
In the Amazonian basin
A bowl of life!/
The struck chords
Of an earth song!....
Who are you
To try to
KILL IT?!....
As a prisoner
In her own home
Queen Liliuokalani
Indigenous of hawa'ii
Set forth to write
In English translation
Her people's chants..songs
Genealogy of creations' story
So that it
Might not be lost
To her future generations
And that in some way
These words would impact
Those who held her prisoner
Under house arrest
So here is one
Of RedEarth descent
Now a recipient
Of such a gift
And there is one
Who believes in the echoes
Valleys and hills
The star shades
Of storied indigenous nights
Listening
To the howls
Raging darkside
To light
Da`-ko^
Of the mid night mune
Sho`_mi-ka-ci
And there is one
Who screams
In blood anguish!!...
I!/Am!/that voice!!...crying from the
Wilderness!!...
And we are all of us!!...
The GhostRoad borne!..
Walking out own ways
Home!....
No^`-xe_u-zho^-ge
U`-be-hni...
Moon, Morningstar...
~ Robin Dick
Moon, Morningstar, Three Rivers, Strawberry's from the Cherokee stories told long ago
Moon is over us bright and full this very night shining with the Christmas star
Morningstar if bright and shining tell us of the old Cherokee stories.
River is the strong path, the three rivers Nastekwtha show us the way
He is the river
Strawberry tells us and show us the way back to the Heaven Walkers that lead us to God
The Elder brother Nastekw tells me about the way back to the Heaven Walkers that lead us to God
Onemassantzin till we meet again
Winds of Change
~ Daniella James
In the heart of the desert, where the red earth meets the sky,
An Apache woman stands, her spirit free to fly.
Her hair flows like rivers, black as the midnight hue,
She listens to the wind, ancient and true.
The seasons call her name, a sacred melody,
From the frost of winter to the summer's plea.
In the grip of change, she does not fear,
For she knows the dance, the cycles near.
In winter’s cold breath, she wraps herself tight,
A blanket of wisdom, woven in night.
She gathers the strength from the barren, silent land,
Preparing for the spring’s gentle hand.
An Answer to THAT Elegy
~ Dr. Dawn Karima
You have insulted the mountains,
The beautiful, bountiful mountains,
And spat in our cool waters.
You have assaulted the mountains,
The wide and winding mountains,
And torn our rivers asunder.
You have abandoned the mountains,
The long-suffering, life-giving mountains,
And when we remember, we rise.
WOULD YOU LOOK FOR ME?
~ Adeline Large
I didn’t mean to go missing Mother.
I didn’t mean to go missing Sister.
I didn’t mean to go missing Father.
I didn’t mean to go missing Brother.
I didn’t mean to go missing Officer.
I didn't mean to jump in a stranger’s car.
I needed a ride, you see, to go home.
He told me that home wasn’t very far.
He said, you see, he wouldn’t leave me alone
Would you look for me?
Would you beat the bushes, search in rivers and lakes?
Would you knock on neighbors doors?
Would you keep going, question, as long as it takes?
Would burst through and rip open walls and floors?
Would you look for me?
I’m here, please keep looking for me.
My soul is wandering and crying alone.
He has me, he won’t let me be.
I’m crying, and wanting to go home
How long will you look for me?
I didn’t mean to go missing.
DAYLIGHT
~ R. Leith
Daylight fell through the window
It hit the wall and melted onto the floor
I had forgotten how warm and misty it was
Straight and confident in it’s work
Bombs fell and fires crashed
All life ran toward the abyss
Muffled cries, screams, whimpers
Cascaded through the walls
The enigma was too great
Dark spheres came and went
Shadows ran and hid
Into the smoke, muck and mire
He was here they said
Speaking with eyes ablaze
We know we saw him
His path was squalid, not pure
Walking out the door
The world was ablaze
The stench was horrific
Death and destruction walked impune
I told you He was here
You let Him in
Now there’s no going back
Your life is over
The light cannot save you
You have sworn an oath
On your bible, on your soul
Now endure your ride
Like a river they turned
And walked back toward the gorge
Mumbling His name
Pitiful beings, pitiful fodder.