I’m a modern Native American
Recalling with pride
Our mighty Indian Nations
Before the attempted Genocide.
The tide of invaders that
Washed across these lands
With conquest in their hearts
And guns in their hands.
They said we were savages
They just didn’t understand
We lived in harmony with nature
Loved and respected our land.
They came to our campfires
Took the Pipe of Peace to smoke
Gave us their worthless treaties
Which they just as casually broke..
They killed us with their weapons
Gave us their strange diseases
Gave our warriors firewater
Behaved just as they pleased,
Then they took the remnants
Of our once proud nations
And herded them to the misery of
The confines of the reservations.
Thinking of the degradation
Of those many wasted years,
Thinking of the shame,
The millions of unshed tears.
Somehow we few survived
Against all the many odds
Perhaps blessed by Manitou
Our life force God of all Gods.
I’m a modern Native American
And we’re regaining our pride
Proud of those once mighty nations
Before the attempted Genocide.
Categories:
manitou, america, history, hope, native
Form: Rhyme
September’s end descended swiftly
on the island of Manitou, as dark clouds
and strong winds vanquished yesterday’s
sun, bringing gray skies and cold rain.
In the fields, sandhill cranes gather,
then lift, en masse, silhouetted against
a sombre sky, their raucous cries harkening
to prehistoric times as they disappear across
the horizon following the east wind which
will carry them to Michigan and beyond.
We lower our heads and pedal on.
Categories:
manitou, nature, september,
Form: Free verse
Great Spirit hear us, our Manitou.
Holy Spirit don’t let our Nations perish.
There were many millions of us living in Abya Yala
before colonists called it America.
Now only handful of us remain.
Holy spirit help us unite our Nations
into one, that we may survive.
Let the souls of our forefathers be blessed
for the genocide that they endured.
Hear us Holy Spirit the giver of live.
Let the souls of our forefathers
repose in your justice.
Our Nations are striving for peace,
God’s children with dignity,
with honor and integrity
living with God forever.
Categories:
manitou, religious,
Form: Verse
She rose up, great green turtle of mystery
From chlliy depths of sapphire blue.
Drenched in a rich history,
Centuries of legend, lore and tales true.
Her shores are cloaked in limestone,
Ledges of jagged natural protection.
This grand Turtle Island alone,
Is Gitchii Manitou's perfection.
From her Eastern Shore,
Where the Arch rock stands tall,
To lover's leap and its lore,
Where Lo-Tah leaped at her lover's call.
Devil's Kitchen where wen-di-gos did
dwell,
When the winds come lashing in
Screams of their victims still echo well,
Washing over the Turtle's shores again.
North it's a great pillar of stone,
The very wigwam of Gitchii Manitou.
It stands tall, proud and lone
Watching over the Isle in the jewel sea.
Near the center is the crack in the island,
Where the Giants fingers grasp.
For when he loses grip with his hand,
The great turtle will sink once again, alas.
Categories:
manitou, america
Form: Free verse
ON BARR TRAIL
the going is steep –
twenty-five percent grade –
twelve miles to the top
legs tire already
we plan to go half way up
to where the trees stop
from there only rock
and no beauty in the climb
we brought a feast
some four miles along
we happen on a meadow,
all nature at peace,
and this silver stream
directly across the path
glistening the rocks
wonderful to be
on this perfect forest glade
we shuck shoes and sox,
roll the pebbles round
wash our aching arms and legs
and luxuriate
then we see a fawn
standing by the wooded edge
feasting without fear
in such surroundings –
this hidden mountain haven –
we sense god is near
no continuing
timberline will have to wait
other time and date
...........................................
From Manitou Springs
Barr Trail goes to the top of Pike's Peak
Categories:
manitou, nature,
Form: Haiku
Manitou slides
Doppelgänger silhouette
Ballet prides
Twisted contorted pirouette
Pierrot dolls glare twingingly
Stare wistfully from shaded mottled space
Ventriloquist disgusting tricks
From two deceitful
Face
The magicians hook
Stare garishly
Whilst he wilfully reels in
Audience of ooh faced crowds
Doused in doubt, at just whats
Happening
A rocking horse
It squeaks the boards
With no child on its
Back
And forth to kiddie Hell
Wooden teeth, a glare, a smile, a crack
Puppets is as puppets does
Whilst someone cuts the string
A slumped doll, hair shorn
Skipping rope to swing
The troll which lay beneath the bed
Fumbling hands to grab small feet
Spiders who crawl purposely
To join beneath the sheets
But worst of all
Most worst of all, the dreaded curtain smiles
Which changed within a gentle breeze to something thats
Most vile
Categories:
manitou, childhood, fear, introspection,
Form: Free verse