Short South Dakota Poems

the home of the brave
indian caves,exploring time
lets go.we can walk...

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Killer of dreams
—the moment says goodbye

(Pine Ridge South Dakota: July, 2009)...

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The drum beat of eternity
—keeper of the dream

(Pine Ridge South Dakota: June, 2006)...

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Editing Poetry...
  which face comes off the mountain?

(Keystone South Dakota: August, 2013)...

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One may lose his honor
—but it can never be taken from him

(Pine Ridge South Dakota: July, 2009)...

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“Fire of my words…
vanish like smoke
into a raging sky
Blanket forever
the memory
of my being”

(Pine Ridge South Dakota: July, 2009)...

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We die in the present,
but live in the past

Though the moment may claim us
—our memory to last

(Pine Ridge South Dakota: June, 1993)...

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From the Kiowa to the Cree,
 people sing and dance

Prairies ringed with fire
—a ghost returns at last

(Pine Ridge South Dakota: September, 1994)...

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The wolf demands
what the shepherd
can’t protect

A busy hand
helps the angry heart
forget

(Pine Ridge South Dakota: July, 2019) 
‘To Mari Sandoz’...

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My short name, my lucid green day
My South Dakota doll accent, my life-jacket
My worn through the knee blue jeans

A red ant 
struggles 
between the last two toes....

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Knowing I won’t answer
you’re welcome to ask
Questions like a distant
echoing wind
Blown into nothingness
— chasing the past

(Pine Ridge South Dakota: Fall, 2010)
...

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The Black Hills are crying,
our Mother forsaken

Enemy boot prints
where moccasins claim

To live just to die
in noble futility

All drums beat in silence
—He Sapa in shame

(Pine Ridge South Dakota: July, 2019)...

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Can our culture live on,
can its message be contained

Will an eagle looking down
see the joy or the pain

Will our heritage run deep,
like the river that flows

To an all-consuming delta,
and the life force who knows

(Pine Ridge South Dakota: June, 1993)...

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We cannot eat lies
or feast on empty promises

No more than the bison,
starving in the desert sand

We cannot clothe our children
as we run from the Wasichus

Our teepees torn and freezing
amidst the winter snows

(Pine Ridge South Dakota: Late September, 1994)...

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Blizzard of seventy-eight
Paralyzed USA’s middle state of Indiana
Not as awful as the great blizzard of 1888
Which dropped fifty inches of snow in three days

Even blizzard alley
Minnesota, North and South Dakota
Did not suffer from these two record
Monster blizzards...

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KAREN
mother, daughter, wife, poet
sister of Lois and Penny
lover of Brad, Skylar and Harley
who feels happiness, sorrow excitement
who fears snakes, our next election, snow covered roads
would like to see South Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin
resident of Fort Loramie, Ohio
CROFT...

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To go in a circular, spiral, curved
Or crooked course
Breeze, zephyr, puff or bluster
Claptrap, horwash or baloney
Tornado, Cyclone or a disaster

No matter how you put it
If your vehicle stays on the road
In Kansas, South Dakota or Wyoming
You have more than met your goal...

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miles away from any town
deep darkness falls upon plains
wayside conversations
at the edge of a deserted highway
in solitude poets and lovers
new meanings sought
a blank page seeks its verse
stars and planets hide
the world turns toward light
revelations of dawn

August 9, 2021...

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Steel insulation warm thin hot smooth downy shepherd smoothness. Pistol clasps palms crystal misses birching basket weavers.
Fluffy firm pedestals release hard deniers.
Doldrum office charts demonstrating 
Appendages conceal resistance. 
Halcyon boogie board heroes.
Greek play rehearsal. 

...

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Steel insulation warm thin hot smooth downy shepherd smoothness. Pistol clasps palms crystal misses birching basket weavers.
Fluffy firm pedestals release hard deniers.
Doldrum office charts demonstrating 
Appendages conceal resistance. 
Halcyon boogie board heroes.
Greek play rehearsal. 

...

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Sometimes,
the very best informed
remain the most naïve

Cronkite
in 1963,
“Oswald Was The One”

The Mob sat back
and licked their chops,
“Bobby’s Finished Now”

As millions mourn
in false belief
—and Warren to mislead

(Crazy Horse Memorial: Black Hills South Dakota, September, 2021)...

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Idea of profit hope for snowflake March and November rain. Are you leading back to Rapid City or Pine Ridge?
I was in the halfway house in Mitchell. Did you visit the Corn Palace or the doll shop?
I heard you are in Aberdeen. I am still your dream? 
Symmetrical preponderance stopwatch courthouse cuckoo clock 
Spitting on gravestones North Minnesota...

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Idea of profit hope for snowflake March and November rain. Are you leading back to Rapid City or Pine Ridge?
I was in the halfway house in Mitchell. Did you visit the Corn Palace or the doll shop?
I heard you are in Aberdeen. I am still your dream? 
Symmetrical preponderance stopwatch courthouse cuckoo clock 
Spitting on gravestones North Minnesota...

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Gigantic pylons of wind-carved granite
Form astonishing pillars of natural wonder
Sculptures to rival Borglum's finest faces
Perilously perched along the winding trail
Punctuating the Black Hills with awesome
Commas of towering mystical totems
Where once the proud Native Americans
Roamed with the buffalo in blessed peace

written August 25, 2021...

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If you hailed from South Dakota,
And someone asked you, "Where you from?"
You wouldn’t simply say, “Uh, Dakota.”
And if you grew up in the hills of West Virginia,
You’d never be inclined to just reply, “Oh, I’m from Virginia.”
But if your mind is going to Carolina,
And you knew James Taylor’s home address,
It doesn’t matter whether North or South,
You’ll navigate your way by GPS....

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