“Spotted Dog and His Ride” – copyright Jesse T. Hummingbird
Twilight distant Universe Time is not linear Past is the future No assimilation without Technology and greenbacks Uranium, gold, oil, radioactive waste, lies, lies, LIES The new gods Uncle Riding the future's stallion Named after the old ones That Columbus thought were selling spices and silks
Greed horse used to suffice Now one has many horses Horsepower still counted Like grains of sand Waiting for something to shift the weight Of the harried bubble of blue We as fish in a bowl Watching ourselves taking turns floating upside down to the top Stream and lake and grass and tree and wind Speak Turning the world on a dime, waiting for that time in the sun Coyote watches Wolf watches the road to oblivion Silent they creep across the dreams of the sleepy and the dead
Looking for that red road and only finding blue sands and black sky and following that blood red trail to their great great great great great great great grandchildren's cries of torment in the future meat grinder of broken treaties, alcohol, car wrecks and suicide children who cry in a foreign tongue, the enemy's language prayers to a God that Spotted Dog does not Know... forgotten songs... forgotten remember
Remember? (The future calls the old ones to whisper) Whisperings like the roar of the bikes engine Drum beats and blood memory The blood remembers The children speak Aaniin Hau Tansi She:koli Kwe Kwe a thousand greetings float up to greet this ancient rider The children set out their food and tobacco and greet this grandfather Spotted Dog and thank him for remembering for visiting for whispering
Grandfather revved the engine of his Indian Ride Drumbeats pound out of his engine Old Songs float out of his exhaust Spreading across the earth Like Daybreak woman dances across the morning sky
and the children danced and they danced and they danced and let the water out of the fishbowl they threw out the greed, the technology of genocide And Sang the future Sand the past Remembered the stories the heartbeat of our Mother, Earth Mother of us all
copyright Melanie S. Fish 9-24-2005
I thought this would be something good to post this evening. I wrote this poem back in college in 2005. What it talks about is as relevant as ever. As we watch the debates on tv this evening, remember that we vote for our children's children's children.
Dadibaadjimowikwe 