Indigenous Poems | Examples

List of Member Poems

Slim Pickings

In addition to indigenous peoples
of the Americas known as Native Americans
the country of U.S.A. is populated
by those from far away other lands
but now there are many in the U.S.
living illegally on borrowed time
as the Governement wants to deport them all
for an untried unproven crime
and if they do so then who will pick
all the fruit and vegetable crops
when they are gone back to where they're from
as that's where the dollar stops

Premium Member Origin Questions

If we acknowledge Mother Earth,
How is it we discount her daughters?
If might doesn't make right,
What have we left out of the world?
What do we make of this world…  that was made for us?

If we look up to Father Sky,
Is that why we look down on Mother Earth?
Or have we put words in the mouth of the wind,
When we mouth the words of our fathers?
Have we not learned from whence they came?

Premium Member A Viking Presence in North America

Took sail with a north-easterly wind did the Nords
From the glaciated valleys and narrow steep fjords
A sea voyage away by chance three lands found
Norsemen have come to claim their ground
Dragon-headed prows, ships with wooden oars
Centuries before famous lauded explorers
A Vikings roaring soul was the longboat Drakkar
Thru misty waters and unintruded shores afar
The land was calm—no frost in winter
Wild wilderness and little did the grass wither
What’s green is ice and what’s ice is green
Named in contrast so the truth be unseen
So not to make it sound it’s to one’s liking
This is the legacy of the brash hardy breed Viking
The sagas of the Icelanders—Edda
Old Norse óðr poetry of how they discovered America


Lure Of Liberty

Aside from its indigenous natives
when those there United States
(home of the braves)
were first settled by white colonists and pioneers
it was advertised with a carrot
(not a torch)
held by copper-sheathed Lady Liberty
with book candle 
(no bell)
française est elle
with the slogan 'Land of the Free'
propaganda of the day it's enough to make one sick
as today there's far less carrot and way too much more stick
haves and have nots will always be there
(the tired poor huddled wretched masses)
but we you and me can make a difference if we really care

FIRE

River makes its final clunk
Between
Hills
Rolling boulders like turtle shells
Empty of their mouths and hearts

River bent
Flailing legs and neck
No longer reflects
The sun and moon
From water’s absence down its back.

Turns her terrible brittle head
From me
Teeth gnashing on the spools of willow

To her memory
When mud was forest
Footsteps
Croaking with frogs and dazzled with dragonflies
Ringed in a halo of cold fog.

We are dying
Together
Not angels nor even demons

But conquering visitors from a desert
Who brought nothing but the leech of desert
With us
Covering the entire Earth with insatiable thirst
And hunger

Kings and Queens for a day
Destroyers
Of those ceremony drums
Of gods and plants animals and language

When we lived as One
Gift
Strummed through the harp of gratitude.

Now, I seek a forgiving signal
From perhaps a divine wave
Coming from the dying Mother

This way
You poor skinless fool

The fire shall burn behind you
The entire Earth and its people
Which is all the things that flutter

Crawl walk and sing

"An empty bowl
With a spoon beside you."

Atrocity

Whether the Indigenous People,
robed in leathers, head dressed in feathers,
who had their own sovereign nations,
wanted it or not,
June 2nd 1924,
U.S. President Calvin Coolidge
condescendingly signed the Snyder Act,
a.k.a., the Indian Citizenship Act, into law,
thereby conferring American citizenship
on American Indians.

He had it backwards,
it was no more than an affront
as, whether the Indigenous People
wanted them or not,
it was American Indians who,
altho' they made no claim to own Mother Earth,
should have conferred American citizenship
on the Paleface People,
who were mere trespassers on tribal territory.

And Woody Guthrie
(1912 – 1967),
another white man,
was not referring
to Native Americans
when he wrote,
'This land is your land.'


Premium Member Indigenous Passions

Unreciprocated passion
is not yet resonant compassion

Unreturned love
feels dissonantly lonely

Failure to cooperatively thrive

Longing for health giving 
mindful exotic 
double-binding 
cobinary relationship

Strong wealth receiving 
resiliently embodied 
erotic co-elationship.

Premium Member INDIGENOUS PRAYER TO CELEBRATE NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH

(May we hear and breathe the words of our indigenous ancestors
And may we all be so lucky as to have an indigenous future)

Life is a beautiful word.
Oh Great Spirit
As we walk across the Earth
Teach us
Help us find
Peace
Dignity
Respect
The courage and strength to be brave
Wisdom and truth
Kindness
Honesty
Humility
We look to you for love
Compassion
and honor
So we can make a better world
for everyone
and everything

Indigenous People's Of China

Mountain people in China
Never waste their plants
Whether bamboo or banana
They utilize the whole plants
From roots to stalks
Leaves and fruits
To create sellable products
They handmade bamboo
Arts and crafts
They are one of the most
Creative and industrious
People of the world.

futile to the fed

they call it our independence
we were never dependent 
they'll rape our only mothers
make us repent it 
they'll sell our land
and bomb us when we tent on it 
they'll condemn our freedom 
after forcing us to shoot for it

morals are futile to the fed
to the hungry
well,
different story


—Tony O'manachain

Premium Member Brilliant Resilience

Singing with outside 
transcendent
ego-theistic
wealthy resonant voice
while dancing inside 
Eartheistic
healthy resilient choice

RePresents ancient sacred reconnections
of messianic verbal thoughts
invoking bodhisattva nonverbal feelings

Amusing muse vocations
re-presenting compassionate communications
contentiously contenting
indigenous EarthTribe wisdom

Singing while dancing
mindbody
humanely divine
crown/root chakra
expanding circles of resonant
resilience.

Hika Bay

Hika Bay

Silent hawks appear
outside our window
two,then four,now six
form a floating dimond 

A kettle of hawks roam high
on ancient air
sent by first peoples
to remind us

We dont own these wonders
they belong to Hika Bay
we are just the latest 
interlopers

Frozen in place
in the sky
the gray sky
before the rain comes


PJB

Premium Member THANKFUL FOR THE OJIBWA

Today I’m thankful for the Ojibwa…
whose simple prayer…this simple verse
Could, if heeded by all of us
change the destiny of our universe…

For they know, as I wish we knew,
how everyone is our sister and our brother
And if we were all taught love, compassion and honor
we have a chance not only to heal the Earth
but also…to heal each other.

Premium Member THANKFUL FOR INDIGENOUS WISDOM

Today I’m thankful for Indigenous wisdom
wisdom that needs to be respected…

The earth is not a resource to use up…they believed
It is an heirloom to be treasured and protected

Premium Member Dancing NewYear Divas

EarthTribe dancing divas
still indulge emphatic circling
meditations

Dogmatically embodying
mindful medications

Producing peaceful pleasures
spiraling passions
against war's relentless anti-paradise

Dancing resiliently within
organic drama
while resonantly without
systemic trauma

Right hand 
and foot 
open out
in front of
future win/win
mindfully embodied
penetrations
in behind Left past
win/lose shady
mean predations

Right hand gratefully open
virtuous praising circles
inviting LeftBrain
viscous
vicarious healing
vicious marches
in ancient patristic
hierarchical lines

Resolving EarthDivas
now prancing in space-timed spirals
extending boundaries
to soon embrace love's immortal
body-mindful warm regard

Together circling
Earth's silent empowering
dormant winter solstice
starlit witnessing Adventure

Enlightening 
dancing Gaia-With-Us
inside win/win 
newborn presence Presents

Divinely humane
returning RightHand up
and LeftFoot forward
round wombed joy

Voiced
and love choiced
again

Indigenous divas
dancing EarthMother's 
ancient wisdom
passion
light
power.

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Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.

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