Best Native Americanlife Poems
Sometimes within the walls of today
We simply search for another way
To make this day all it should be
I must learn to live eternally
A blessing given or one took
I live my life inside a book
Each new day is another page
I sit in the circle and burn my sage
Asking Grandfather to help me see
Exactly what a true man should be
With the blood of an Indian and of a white
Life is most certainly a spiritual fight
Half of me hates how the other half-lives
The white man took all the Indian gives
Then the white man decided to take some more
Slaughtered the Indians from shore to shore
Brought an end to a beautiful way of life
“We will kill the man and rape the wife”
They called us heathens but don’t you know
Was the white man that had a heathen’s soul
Half and half, the blood of a breed
Poisoned by a white mans seed
It’s my Indian half I love the most
My white half is turning into a ghost
Through my veins flows the blood of a brave
Though I lived my life as my white halves slave
Jesus Christ, nailed to the cross for me
Now my Indian half enjoys living free
Though freedom is a frame of mind
In the circle of life it’s truth I find
With each new poem I’m able to see
A little bit deeper up inside of me
Which enables my soul to truly live
Making my heart strong enough to give
All the faith that is found in a seed
I reckon half and half, is good breed
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Posted in respects to James Fraser
Spirit of the Navajo
How hard life has become
Reciting prayers of long ago
Alcohol an escape for some
How hard life has become
Water is a scarcity
Alcohol an escape for some
Look at them with pity
Water is a scarcity
Wells will soon run dry
Look at them with pity
How could one not cry
Wells will soon run dry
Land stolen, left alone
How could one not cry
True intentions shone
Land stolen, left alone
Reciting prayers of long ago
True intentions shone
Spirit of the Navajo
Pantoum
The pantoum consists of a series of quatrains rhyming ABAB in which the second and fourth
lines
of a quatrain recur as the first and third lines in the succeeding quatrain; each quatrain
introduces a
new second rhyme as BCBC, CDCD. The first line of the series recurs as the last line of the
closing
quatrain, and third line of the poem recurs as the second line of the closing quatrain, rhyming
ZAZA.
The design is simple:
Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
Line 4
Line 5 (repeat of line 2)
Line 6
Line 7 (repeat of line 4)
Line 8
Continue with as many stanzas as you wish, but the ending stanzathen repeats the second
and
fourth lines of the previous stanza (as its first and third lines), and also repeats the third line
of
the first stanza, as its second line, and the first line of the first stanza as its fourth. So the
first
line of the poem is also the last.
Last stanza:
Line 2 of previous stanza
Line 3 of first stanza
Line 4 of previous stanza
Line 1 of first stanza
Hope is Loomed
By Dane Smith-Johnsen
Mother earth in the background lies.
Comes one woman with life to birth.
Bequeathed beneath beautiful skies.
Fruitful blossom grows, gift to Earth.
Strong! And protected from sun’s heat.
Red umbrella defends sweat’s blaze.
Along life’s straight path walk clad feet.
Man-made boots on each bare foot stays.
Blackened earth, on which life sparkles, see-
Gone ways. First born. Know they believed.
Neither pride nor rock could stop that fleece.
When spirits’ lost honor received.
Woman’s bounty; life’s showy bloom,
Bravery with strengths carries life on.
Elders of the tribes face new dawn.
Upon the future hope is loomed.
Written for Abe Lopez’s Native American Ekphrasis contest.
You may view the painting using the link below. Enjoy! And enjoyed.
http://images.artnet.com/artwork_images_1156_365659_tc-cannon.jpg