view of rich soo locks
grand hotel that's aged well
among new venues
Categories:
ojibway, travel,
Form: Haiku
and the drums beat, beat, beat
and flutes and voices float
and the eagle
calls me
and the wolves howl, howl, howl
oh, a wind is whistling, whirling, whispering
come, come, come
and in the stillness
I am an Ojibway girl
seeking my lost heritage
I bow to the grandfather spirits
in the sky
telling them with respect
that I am
trying to find my place
and the drums beat, beat, beat
and the flutes and voices float
and the eagle calls me
and the wolves howl, howl, howl
and a lone eagle feather drifts down
from the sky
as a gift from the eagle spirit
to give me courage and strength
for my journey
Categories:
ojibway, how i feel,
Form: Free verse
In Canada, the First Indigenous Communities sadly watched as the ground
penetrating high-tech equipment searched and found the unmarked graves
of residential school children. These children were taken from their homes
by force, beaten, raped, and killed, and buried in unmarked graves in what
is called the Sixties Scope. As an Ojibway girl, I watched too.
In a Manitoba church basement archeologists detected fourteen possible
graves sites thinking they could be human remains of children.
Some in the community said let the dead rest, others demand justice for
these children taken by the government. Is there relativity in digging up
the remains after all this time?
I have screamed to the sky at each revealed grave, why! Oh, no time can
erase the hurt and pain of the Indigenous people. This is part of the history
of Canada. No words can ever remove it. Yes, it happened, it was real !
Categories:
ojibway, history, time,
Form: Prose Poetry
I have been called 'names' besides my name
to grandpa I was 'Funny Girl'
I would stomp my foot but still to him I came
he was funny and I wish that I could be Funny Girl again
My sweet grandma always called me her 'Dear Heart'
she also said it in Ojibway, 'Wiishkobe Ode'
I love her so much even though she had to depart,
she even called me these names in front of my school friends
My husband called liked to call me 'Sleeping Beauty'
he said it was because I could sleep all day
and sometimes when he was flirty I became 'Tutti-Frutti'
I miss him each moment of forevermore
To my mom I was always a 'Sweet Heart' to her
and for dad I was 'My Girl' since a child
they loved me, protected me, and I felt like a star
I have come far because all these sweet and silly names
_______________________
April 15, 2022
Poetry/Rhyme/Sweet and Silly Names
Copyright Protected, ID 04-1448-985-15
All Rights Reserved, 2022, Constance La France
Written for the Standard contest, To Lighten the load
sponsor, Angela Tune, Judged 05/09/2022
Categories:
ojibway, funny, silly, sweet,
Form: Rhyme
The Iroquois, the Ottawa, the Potawatomi, the Crow,
The Lakota, the Chippewa; all dwelt by their shores
And in their deep forests, but are there no more.
Yet the Lakes remain; their waters abide.
Clear and quiet they lie on calm summer days,
But send ships to their bottoms when gales roar in their skies.
The abyss of Superior, so cold and so dark,
Holds tight to its secrets the Ojibway said,
And the waters of Superior never gives up its dead.
The waters of Michigan, not so cold nor so deep,
Yet, like Superior, its secrets they keep.
The waters of Huron I see in a dream
Flowing over the ghosts of primordial streams,
Past islands and trees, always south towards the sea.
Receiving their waters, Erie, with skies luminescent,
Sends them on crashing over the Escarpment.
Then on through Ontario and the Saint Lawrence,
Passing Quebec, passing great forests,
They reach their goal, the wide gray Atlantic.
Like great Superior,
My secrets lie deep, my secrets lie cold.
They lie in an abyss and will never be told.
But there come to me times when I want just to go
To that vast Ocean wide;
To flow into the deep and there forever abide.
Categories:
ojibway, nature, spiritual,
Form: Rhyme
On a northern night,
In an ojibway village.
The Shaman,
Shared his ceremonies,
With me.
He let me in,
On sacred secrets.
Not because,
I am native.
But,
Because,
I was worthy.
Categories:
ojibway, adventure, life, native american,
Form: Free verse