tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30518503242156229902024-03-13T15:21:56.512-05:00Linda Rodriguez WritesLinda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.comBlogger302125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-13702790015799241372019-12-11T10:59:00.000-06:002019-12-11T10:59:44.834-06:00Continuing Native American Heritage Month--"At the Stomp Dance"<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_yxK26Z56DaUzG3925D5lE0QrnuitKQnKiSBLSpnw9wuIoFAyKUdTutIl_0EE4c6IZ_K4LdqBbsCCCitKgYXtmWvp6tMLvVh53Dc9fYOM_U4Nxv65T5CQaWFmwJKWzr9rD6wcgn_uebHw/s1600/stomp+dance-Contemporary+Stomp+Dance+by+Marcine+Quenzler.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="318" data-original-width="502" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_yxK26Z56DaUzG3925D5lE0QrnuitKQnKiSBLSpnw9wuIoFAyKUdTutIl_0EE4c6IZ_K4LdqBbsCCCitKgYXtmWvp6tMLvVh53Dc9fYOM_U4Nxv65T5CQaWFmwJKWzr9rD6wcgn_uebHw/s320/stomp+dance-Contemporary+Stomp+Dance+by+Marcine+Quenzler.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Contemporary Stomp Dance" by Marcine Quenzler</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">On the last day of Native American Heritage Month, I said I wanted to extend it at least to the end of the year, since it was the only time mainstream America paid any attention to or acknowledged that there were still Natives living in this contemporary world beside them, that we weren't just historical and extinct. That last may just be wishful thinking on some parts, since we are so inconvenient as reminders of the results of a history of genocide and ethnic cleansing that mainstream America chooses to forget.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Today's poem is about the stomp dance, which is the Cherokee equivalent of </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWir3YOogf5o1qj95EWMn8Xy3dLoFOJFpZ-QU_U0F1Tk2xSl6FXdyL4ivKqWptayeGQpQNUcB3JN0gTREkioxzXw1khudzdIrVHCEa6HL__ydGce__cQM43mHKB3JLCY3ZhiUGsNYnUxHM/s1600/stomp+dance+shakers+turtle+shell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="208" data-original-width="244" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWir3YOogf5o1qj95EWMn8Xy3dLoFOJFpZ-QU_U0F1Tk2xSl6FXdyL4ivKqWptayeGQpQNUcB3JN0gTREkioxzXw1khudzdIrVHCEa6HL__ydGce__cQM43mHKB3JLCY3ZhiUGsNYnUxHM/s200/stomp+dance+shakers+turtle+shell.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">church services--never forgetting that many Cherokee can be and are active in both traditional Cherokee ceremonies and Christian church services. I wrote this poem based on the stomp dances of my childhood down in Oklahoma. In it, the women all use shell shakers made of turtle shells. These were and are treasured heirlooms, handed down many generations through the line of female ancestors. Today, women are much more likely to use tin can shell shakers as more environmentally sustainable. The original </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtEtfTDrzpXoT3Gnk6-qDu0CsJPRLSKigodZ0PwdnDGON572sCmY6w0rYIwGUEZscz8t9HfxhfXR25e-QaU8K3FfzAM8_UOaFttkY3w2OTwMtonVa99u6VInuMRhoXdHO6NuLG-g_aWaJC/s1600/stomp+dance+shakers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="207" data-original-width="245" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtEtfTDrzpXoT3Gnk6-qDu0CsJPRLSKigodZ0PwdnDGON572sCmY6w0rYIwGUEZscz8t9HfxhfXR25e-QaU8K3FfzAM8_UOaFttkY3w2OTwMtonVa99u6VInuMRhoXdHO6NuLG-g_aWaJC/s200/stomp+dance+shakers.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">turtle shells were harvested when turtles were in great abundance and the turtles were eaten by the family before the shells were cleaned and used in ceremony and then handed down for generations. As the environment has changed and turtles become less abundant due to habitat loss and death by automobile, the Cherokee have adapted, not wanting to hunt them into endangered status.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTdHg6FrTP2yTUt1A-gWt_VcNTLzOXUWRwfGjZ-N00n9JVRmt1cM24evDicg4m4WE64-rtrjf_gaKVH5JHdeENSf0oZnRnd2OoNlmAlKx21PE7DEOO0TSHuAdb5_Sgxo2f77cACLTvKIr7/s1600/stomp+dance+at+night.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="576" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTdHg6FrTP2yTUt1A-gWt_VcNTLzOXUWRwfGjZ-N00n9JVRmt1cM24evDicg4m4WE64-rtrjf_gaKVH5JHdeENSf0oZnRnd2OoNlmAlKx21PE7DEOO0TSHuAdb5_Sgxo2f77cACLTvKIr7/s320/stomp+dance+at+night.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-size: large;">Since I have lived away from the Cherokee Nation in adulthood, I have seldom had an opportunity to attend a stomp dance. When I do, they are not as elaborate as those of my childhood, usually no longer including the stickball games that used to accompany those of my childhood. However, the Cherokee stomp dance is still going strong in all the aspects of ceremony that make it so important. There is still the food, the focus on clans, the sacred fire, the men handing down the songs through the generations, the women with their shell shakers setting the rhythm of the dance, the spiral of prayer to the Creator. It is still as powerful as ever and as beautiful.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">AT THE STOMP DANCE<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cars, trucks, all day coming.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">First the leaders and their helpers<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">set up the cook shed,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">clean, rake the ball and dance grounds,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">refurbish the seven brush arbors<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">circling the dance ground—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">helpers from each clan do this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The women bring hot and cold dishes <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">from home, begin to cook and cover tables<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">while men build the sacred fire, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">centered in the dance ground’s circle<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">to reflect the sun.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The crowd grows.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Flirting, catcalling between young men and women<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">turns into challenge. Head for the ball ground,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">men grabbing ballsticks, women hands free—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">all the better to rest on a hip while calling a sassy
retort.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Game on, men against women,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">each plays by their own set of rules<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">to much laughter and hooting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The sad-eyed carved fish swimming through the air<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">on top of the pole in the center of the ball ground<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">watches benevolently <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">while the ball whizzes past<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">or—success!—strikes it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Older women and others not playing call out <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">encouragement and laughing insults.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So do the older men, sitting in their lawn chairs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All the while, final preparations continue<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">for the main event, the dance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Women work on old cowboy boots,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">making sure their turtleshell rattles<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">handed down the chain of daughters,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">are securely fastened to the split-open tops of the boots.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They try them on and stamp their feet hard <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">to check the sound of the pebbles in the rattles,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">to make sure they won’t come loose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Children are everywhere underfoot, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">watching ball game and sacred fire, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">sniffing around the cook shed, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">playing tag and hide-and-seek<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">outside the ring of clan shelters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The elders of each clan—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ani-Wahya (Wolf), Ani-Kawi (Deer), Ani-Tsisqua (Bird),<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ani-Gilahi (Long Hair), Ani-Sahani (Blue), Ani-Wadi (Paint),
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">and Ani-Gatagewi (Wild Potato)—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">settle into each brush arbor<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">as the cooks call out that the food is ready.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Clan members bring food to the elders,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">join them or eat with families, friends.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now, the food is eaten and dishes cleaned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now, the turtledoves are calling as they nestle in to sleep.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now, the fireflies are taking to the air with children
chasing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now, the sun has set and the sacred fire brings back its
light.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now, the women put on their rattle-sewn boots.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now, the old lead singer calls out the beginning, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now, his brothers and nephews echo their response.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now, his sisters and nieces step into the circle beside them.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now, the women set the rhythm with their fast turtleshelled
feet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now, the circle spirals out from the fire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now, the dance can begin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">Published in <i>Dark Sister</i>
(Mammoth Publications, 2018)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-29965880270496920292019-11-30T14:13:00.000-06:002019-11-30T14:13:32.275-06:00Poems for Native American Heritage Month--"The Last Beloved Woman" and "Learning Cherokee"I have been quite ill for months (in 3 months of being unable to swallow or eat much, I lost 50 pounds that the steroids had put on me ) and was coping with serious injury to my right shoulder, as well as steroid myopathy stealing my ability to stand or walk much, before that. As a consequence, I have neglected this blog for too many months.<br />
<br />
Here it is the end of Native American Heritage Month, and I have not posted one essay or poem for it--when I normally post one several times a week throughout the month. So, today, I'll post two poems for the last day of Native American Heritage Month as a bare minimum I can do for the one month a year the rest of the country remembers we are still here. And perhaps, on my own, I will extend Native American Heritage Month to the rest of the year on this blog.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjFTXnthGyg4vR8Nu990eah0QRIZfKxfhxm_7vPf3zxbwnZBw2HZAINDSY_9bC2ulnOjtGokQMQL0Q1rzBd0FHbqmLslI1Sf2aay4TJ2HAQx389IqoZU-6fMOgq3vuo6NSLbxmXk0doECp/s1600/She+speaks+for+her+clan+by+Dorothy+Sullivan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="336" data-original-width="564" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjFTXnthGyg4vR8Nu990eah0QRIZfKxfhxm_7vPf3zxbwnZBw2HZAINDSY_9bC2ulnOjtGokQMQL0Q1rzBd0FHbqmLslI1Sf2aay4TJ2HAQx389IqoZU-6fMOgq3vuo6NSLbxmXk0doECp/s320/She+speaks+for+her+clan+by+Dorothy+Sullivan.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She Speaks for Her Clan by Dorothy Sullivan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This painting is one of my favorites--"She Speaks for Her Clan" by Dorothy Sullivan--and it illustrates Cherokee clan mothers, and for Blue Clan in the center, it pictures Wilma Mankiller as a Beloved Woman. This first poem deals with Beloved Women and the last Beloved Woman of the Cherokee before Removal split the tribe into three different nations. The second poem is a history of Cherokee encounters with Europeans in the guise of a language lesson.<br />
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THE LAST BELOVED WOMAN<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Mother-clanned, the Cherokee towns, <o:p></o:p></div>
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farms, and orchards, before all were stolen <o:p></o:p></div>
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by those who forced the People on the long dread march west,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
belonged to the women, as did the children.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Nanye-hi, in 1738 born <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
a daughter of the Wolf Clan, <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
married Kingfisher, bore two
children.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
During the Battle of Taliwa,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
she took her dead husband’s place,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
avenged his death, rallied warriors
to victory,<o:p></o:p></div>
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became a <i>ghi gua</i>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<i>Ghi
gua</i>, or Beloved Woman, <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
title given by the seven clans <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
to women who had served the People<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
as warriors and mothers both.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Given a swan’s wing and special place in council,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
the <i>ghi gua</i> even held a voting seat <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
on the Council of Chiefs. With
their swan wings,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
they had the final say <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
over whether the town went to war.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Today I watch women go to a war foolish as many,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
often leaving babies behind.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Something’s out of synch, though.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s still old men, who’ve never set foot on battlefield<o:p></o:p></div>
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nor suckled a babe, making decisions of war and peace.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Nanye-hi married again, a white man
named Ward.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Nancy Ward, the <i>ghi gua</i>, respected <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
among Cherokees and settlers, <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
warned settlements of impending
attacks, <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
to prevent complete war,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
negotiated treaties, all later
broken. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
At the end of life, settlers forced
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Nanye-hi from her home to die
before the Trail of Tears.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Trying to fit the white man’s mold,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
the Cherokee shed their councils.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
No place for Beloved Women.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Nanye-hi Nancy Ward was the last <i>ghi gua</i>. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We need women with swan wings.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Published in <i>Dark Sister</i>
(Mammoth Publications, 2018)</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
LEARNING CHEROKEE<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">O si yo. </i>Hello. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">To hi tsu? </i>How are
you? <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Di qho ye ni u si wha.
</i>My hands are empty.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ga do u s di hi a? </i>What
is this?<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gi ga ge i. </i>Red.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">U ne ga. </i>White.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A ma. </i>Water.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wa do </i>Thank you.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yo ne ga. </i>White
man.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nu la. </i>Hurry.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yv wi. </i>The people.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ga tli da. </i>Arrow.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ga yo tli gadO hi. </i>Just
a little land.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A ge ya. </i>Woman.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A ni s ga ya. </i>Men.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A sa no. </i>Dress.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Qua na hl gv ni. </i>Peach
trees.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ga yo tli gado hi. </i>Just
a little land.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A ha ni. </i>Field.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yv gi. </i>Nail.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ga yo tli gado hi. </i>Just
a little land.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tsa ga se sde sdi! </i>Be
careful!<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A de la. </i>Money.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tla hv. </i>Absolutely
not.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ni gad a gado a! </i>All
your land!<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gi ga. </i>Blood.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">E hi sti yu. </i>Pain.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Published in <i>Dark Sister</i>
(Mammoth Publications, 2018)</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-20475031186442130412019-06-13T09:54:00.002-05:002019-06-13T09:54:47.343-05:00Consumed by Politics<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPKsJyLoC8imRXUxlLS02kFc-7N6yDglhc2AvklaDJeeOPUR0ly4yQpDH354FhjfEbHyTvzwIeIzUv7Y8XaBGvtMjSoNINf3jB_mITL2o3QDgIrF7WSE2VEuf13XjAM8VWYcOaEfWmaGTc/s1600/protes1+t.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPKsJyLoC8imRXUxlLS02kFc-7N6yDglhc2AvklaDJeeOPUR0ly4yQpDH354FhjfEbHyTvzwIeIzUv7Y8XaBGvtMjSoNINf3jB_mITL2o3QDgIrF7WSE2VEuf13XjAM8VWYcOaEfWmaGTc/s320/protes1+t.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="Standard">
<span style="font-size: large;">My husband told me last night, “It's hard not to be consumed
by the disaster of this presidency. Every day there's some new outrageous
thing, and it's become so clear that the stakes are higher than they've ever been.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
<span style="font-size: large;">I had to agree, but I don't know if I want to go through the
next years with some new outrage dominating the news every day. I wistfully
long for the days <span style="color: white;">when I could believe that the president, the Senate, and the courts had the best
interest of the country at heart, even if the people in those seats came from
the party I did not want to vote for.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
<span style="font-size: large;">Fortunately, I only face it all at night because I'm busy
writing the ending to my book during the day with the internet off. Believe me,
living in a world that's under attack by aliens that can even destroy Earth's
gods to take their power, let alone puny mortals, is a much happier place to be
than the real world I come back to in the evenings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
<span style="font-size: large;">In my book, I've had to go back in time to 1812 to New Madrid,
Missouri, a place and a time that was full of naturals horrors and wars. The
New Madrid Earthquake that everyone talks about was actually three (or perhaps
four, depending on which modern expert you choose) of the largest earthquakes
ever recorded in the United States—and over 2,000 other earthquakes in a
four-month period. The ground quite literally never stopped shaking, making
even walking difficult. Huge rifts opened up and stayed for a century until
dredging finally destroyed them. Eerie lights, explosions, and rumbling thunder
came from the ground beneath. New lakes, swamps, and sunken lands were formed.
Small volcanoes of salt, coal, tar and mud littered the landscape. The earth
underneath the bed of the Mississippi River was shoved upward with such force
that waterfalls formed in the middle of the river where there had been none
before, and the river appeared to change direction and run upstream on two
different occasions. The few towns that had been established were mostly or
completely destroyed, and the biggest earthquakes were felt in Boston, New
York, and Washington, D.C., where American leaders were dealing with the
frightening lead-up to the War of 1812 against Britain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
<span style="font-size: large;">Meanwhile, fifty miles from New Madrid, in Cape Girardeau,
Missouri, the great warrior and strategist, Tecumseh, was meeting with his
Shawnee and Delaware allies that might have helped him defeat the American
colonists and stop the course of Manifest Destiny, confining the new country to
the Eastern seaboard with an unprecedented alliance of independent Native
nations defending the western two-thirds of the continent. While Tecumseh was
there, American soldiers would attack his home settlement and burn it to the
ground, leading to a series of events that would eventually destroy his
burgeoning movement to hold back the destructive tidal wave of white
settlement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
<span style="font-size: large;">Dealing with this period in history reminds me that there
have been troubled times before this, that there have been dangerous threats
that were avoided or overcome and dangerous threats that were almost averted
but occurred despite the best efforts—and people still managed to have lives
and survive. I suppose we always think the times we're living in are the
toughest and most dangerous.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
<span style="font-size: large;">I can't swear off the political news, so I suppose I'll
continue to hear about each day's new disaster or outrage every evening.
Fortunately, I'll still have the world of my book to exist within all day, and
that should help me view it all with some little perspective. The sky is always
falling, but somehow we manage to muddle through anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-23878790070810038212019-04-25T10:29:00.000-05:002019-04-25T10:29:52.892-05:00I GIVE YOU TO RIVER, a poem for National Poetry Month<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsnbnOmS3TJTgWzlCTYSSCM9Cb1iZXAZqem3a41P_gpsDSWIxYlpl3U-xc8bqTPxlj12xbG0sEzkauE0z5lAagdEnzeZNkQhCrcQVEq0JXaUtolBu_BpkL9s__87bNSEmcLXIc0LUeU8kG/s1600/1+river-photo-oklahoma.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsnbnOmS3TJTgWzlCTYSSCM9Cb1iZXAZqem3a41P_gpsDSWIxYlpl3U-xc8bqTPxlj12xbG0sEzkauE0z5lAagdEnzeZNkQhCrcQVEq0JXaUtolBu_BpkL9s__87bNSEmcLXIc0LUeU8kG/s320/1+river-photo-oklahoma.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">Like my ancestors before me, I love rivers. The peace of running water always calms me, watching it ripple past slowly, hearing the murmur of the water over rocks and branches and the swish of it against the banks, spying the many lives that live along the river--fish, turtles, snakes, muskrats, beavers, hawks, and eagles. For millennia, my people have always chosen to settle near rivers. </span></span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-21c7c4ac-7fff-c976-5ce2-b6266c911bab" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">When I was growing up, I was taught to go to water when troubled or ill. Running water is strong medicine, good medicine. We pray next to it, and then use it to wash away whatever is troubling our hearts, minds, or bodies. Sometimes a creek or brook will work for me, but if I'm truly heartsick, I seek out a river. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;">This poem is another in a series of poems that I have posted to celebrate National Poetry Month. It is an exploration of this practice of going to water when troubled. In the worst kind of pain and grief, sometimes only a river can provide any release. For a healing ceremony, one needs to build a fire, say the right prayers, make an offering, but sometimes in the worst straits, it can be simply you and the river.</span> </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I GIVE YOU TO RIVER</b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Turning to the water for release</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>from my troubles, from you,</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I write your name in my palm with my
finger,</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>then brush off the invisible letters</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>into the river currents passing at my
feet.</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I ask River to carry them out of my
heart and mind,</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>carry them away from my life, remove
all that darkness</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>that is you infesting my mind against
my will,</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>replaying memories that were nothing</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>but playacting on your part,</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>though my heart tries to find excuses,</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>for all the deliberate pain.</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I have to face it finally—there are
none.</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Hard to believe, but even harder to
find</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I still long for you.</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>This stubborn heart won’t give up.</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>So I barricade it, keep it safe from
its stupid fidelity,</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>while I wait for River to carry out
magic,</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>carry your name and games far from me,</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>set me free finally with the power of
moving water,</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>my own inborn element,</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>which carves memories of trauma from
the earth itself</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>and leaves wondrous scars.</b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Published in <i>Dark Sister</i> (Mammoth Publications, 2018)</span></span></div>
Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-65591602906486945202019-04-20T18:22:00.000-05:002019-04-20T18:22:32.819-05:00SPELL FOR BANNING A BOOK, a poem for National Poetry Month<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ph5-S71M8Nn7_7GbNJPUJRxcRoHlDsU0-SB9QNKy30xFgD0N5rsxP_45QhiYoCmNp2Y-fvYoEIReVnHTpUSOHVF9Hds8VJp2SdcCzWMf2Ex63H-fV_w2ETRBpgPOkF1URb4EkhPjf3po/s1600/berlin-book-burning.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="258" data-original-width="325" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ph5-S71M8Nn7_7GbNJPUJRxcRoHlDsU0-SB9QNKy30xFgD0N5rsxP_45QhiYoCmNp2Y-fvYoEIReVnHTpUSOHVF9Hds8VJp2SdcCzWMf2Ex63H-fV_w2ETRBpgPOkF1URb4EkhPjf3po/s320/berlin-book-burning.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">We are living in dark times. We are living in times when lies are elevated above the truth and fantasies and “alternative facts” are elevated above fact and reality by our leaders and those in power over us. We are living in times when children kept in cages after being torn away from their parents are said to be in “summer camps.” We are living in times when the free press is called “the enemy of the people.” In fact, we are living in times that become more and more reminiscent of the rise of Nazi Germany than we would like to believe or experience. </span></span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-70fa20af-7fff-62b7-7bf7-741273eb4cfe" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">We are living in times when the president of the United States tweets out his desire to censor newspapers, television news programs, entire sections of the press, and published books. So far, he has not succeeded in this, even though he daily tweets out his condemnation of “fake news” and his desire to change the libel laws to undercut the First Amendment, but the situation looks grimmer every month and week and day. It reminds me forcibly of the book burnings of the Nazi regime.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">One of the earliest and most important steps a dictatorship must take is to seize control of the narrative. Thus, we see the multitude of lies and the constant accusations of fake news. The next step is censorship, which grants so much control over what the populace can know, and after censorship comes the destruction of books and magazines which contain the truth and not the regime’s propaganda. Along with this, we always find persecution of journalists and writers and poets who are not willing to spout the regime's line. Unfortunately, history gives us all too many examples of this through the ages. In the photograph at the top of this blog, Nazis are burning books in Germany. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">This poem is about this process of banning books, which continues to be a threat down through history. Not too long ago, we had books by Latino and Native and Black authors banned in public school districts in the Southwest, which led to a band of activists gathering those forbidden books and smuggling them across multiple states into those school districts to educate those children. This was called the Librotraficante movement and led to the courts reinstating those books in the school district. Vigilance is the price of freedom. </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SPELL
FOR BANNING A BOOK</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First,
find a censor.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This
will be hard—</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">not
that censors are rare,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">but
they are adept mimics.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do
not be fooled. No matter</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">how
benevolent its disguise,
</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a
frightened censor is dangerous.
</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Approach
with caution.
</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To
safely capture it</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">for
your spell, you must circle</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the
censor chanting soothing</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">nonsense
syllables.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It
is meaning that terrifies</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">censors.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Surround
the stupefied censor</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">with
charms made from advertising</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">photographs
of a mythical golden age—</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">smiling
mothers</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">in
high heels and aprons, silent fathers</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">keeping
sentinel on horseback, sexless</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">children
never asking</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">questions.
Sacred to the censor,</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">such
charms have power</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to
blind it.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Select
the book</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">you
want banned.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Set
it outside the circle</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of
charms, and carefully</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">remove
the charm nearest
</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">so
the censor can detect</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the
presence of an attempt</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">at
meaning.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Protect
yourself.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enraged
censors have been known</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">not
only to ban books</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">but
to burn them</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and
then press on to people.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Published in <i>Dark Sister</i> (Mammoth Publications, 2018)</span></span></div>
Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-92174209243863070602019-04-16T09:53:00.002-05:002019-04-20T17:24:18.344-05:00COMING AROUND AGAIN--a poem for National Poetry Month<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCwt6mDwJOMfpFhP8T0EBI5kW1-qMN3ZQ9CUie6u085yOn70dB0bgLRRqjgg6u8invMPSuIORvsGD-kqRa3Qzr6EOAcCROtFFmeTF7MYfSkfYz9I7P8V-QXA7QJcFbr4uA4ZSaakm5Qlvy/s1600/1+spiral+galaxy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCwt6mDwJOMfpFhP8T0EBI5kW1-qMN3ZQ9CUie6u085yOn70dB0bgLRRqjgg6u8invMPSuIORvsGD-kqRa3Qzr6EOAcCROtFFmeTF7MYfSkfYz9I7P8V-QXA7QJcFbr4uA4ZSaakm5Qlvy/s320/1+spiral+galaxy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">It has been almost 5 years since I began my battle with breast cancer. This poem for National Poetry Month looks back on that time and on other times before that when death was a possibility for me. One advantage of becoming an elder is that death is no longer the boogeyman, the monster in the closet. </span></span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-1a9de7a8-7fff-44d4-65e0-acfc9c2e2e4a" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">This poem speaks to that love for life that keeps us clinging to the mortal realm, even as different aspects of our bodies weaken or begin to fail. It becomes possible to take the long look, and when that becomes possible, fear dissolves.</span></span></div>
<span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">COMING
AROUND AGAIN</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Three
years ago—three years of poison and desperate
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">positive
thinking—they cut off my breast,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">carving
out the lymph nodes
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">of
the underarm as well.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">They
left me with an ugly, puckered scar</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">14
inches long and 3 inches wide,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">raised
one-half to one inch high</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">along
its length, and another</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">incision
3 inches below that scar</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">where
a length of tubing inserted</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">into
the chest drained</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">blood
and lymph into an attached bag</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">for
3 ½ pain-filled, sleepless weeks.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Death
has come looking for me before this</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">several
times. I have always tricked her</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">into
leaving me to my life a little longer,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Scheherazade
putting the random scenes
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">of
daily living into dramatic narrative,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">heightening
conflict and tension,
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">generating
suspense, embellishing
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">dull
parts to create more spark and excitement,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">adding
touches of humor to lighten the mood,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">a
story playing out in front of her</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">to
which she needs to know the ending</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">before
she brings down the final curtain.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I’ve
grown familiar with Death’s face,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">can
read it to tell if I need to spice up the story</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">because
she’s losing interest. Old friend
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">and
familiar, she bears no horror for me any longer.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
have seen the long view through her eyes,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">the
sacred labyrinth of galaxies</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">spinning
out of control throughout the universe</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">pulling
apart in spiral motion, eternal</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">dissipation
of energy rippling outward</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">with
magic like the violent change brought</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">by
tropical storm clouds seen from the air,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">galactic
snake coiling around stars and planets</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">and
black holes whirling like water</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">down
a drain, sucking all matter and energy</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">within
reach, voracious maws, widdershins,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">sunwise,
ears of creation cocked</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">for
the song, symphony, story, vining</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">through
the nebulae, gathering tension</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">and
force, the vast’s giant spring pulled taut,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ready
to snap back into the kaleidoscope,
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">force
of tornadoes, whirlwinds,
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">passing
into the still eye surrounded</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">by
the stomp dance of the stars,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Creator’s
medicine wheel, coming,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">going,
bringing, leaving, giving, taking,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">moving
up and down around the spiral</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">of
time, infinity’s tilt-a-whirl.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Remaining
attached to this life, these loved people,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
have no wish to join the stardust spiral dance</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">of
destruction and creation before I must.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I’ll
stay here in this incarnation as long as I can,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">loving
this insane world’s dark and light moments</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">and
the people, trees, birds around me, clinging</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">until
the last to its chiaroscuro, yin and yang.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Still,
I won’t fall screaming into the void</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">when
my time is up. I’ve seen the wheel of fortune</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">that
is the cosmos. Life is circular, grinding all of us</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">into
crumbs of creation, raw material for new wonders.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I’ve
promised myself and lovely bony Ms. Death</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I
will embrace my ride on the celestial merry-go-round.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But
the story’s not over yet—there’s at least one more chapter</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a>before
the spectacular, mystifying, completely satisfying climax.</span></div>
<br />
<br />
Published in <i>Dark Sister</i> (Mammoth Publications, 2018)Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-63960800129140875982019-04-11T09:42:00.000-05:002019-04-11T09:42:57.588-05:00WHAT CROW SAYS--a poem for National Poetry Month<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzzkA-qvAA8i8eZeQ348wdJ57Zg2b2oMvH8rThamOcQNt3hBR92ujOyOfaMoKQZ8PSBX2WTj2PyMnsR9H7o22Sspfkm4Dv8hw19c0ftxjf8aQv8EnOKlfSRCyKtAB9ZFWzV1vdzoKEKfZv/s1600/crow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzzkA-qvAA8i8eZeQ348wdJ57Zg2b2oMvH8rThamOcQNt3hBR92ujOyOfaMoKQZ8PSBX2WTj2PyMnsR9H7o22Sspfkm4Dv8hw19c0ftxjf8aQv8EnOKlfSRCyKtAB9ZFWzV1vdzoKEKfZv/s320/crow.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">I have a strong propensity for crows. They're birds that don't get the love and respect that other birds do because they're not as flashy in appearance and their voices are harsher, even though they are classified as songbirds.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Crows are intelligent, can make tools and remember the faces of those humans who have been a threat to them or their community, even have rituals to mourn their dead. They often bring us messages of wisdom from the Creator and show us the way when we need guidance.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">This poem is the first in a sequence of mine called "First Cousins Speak." In these poems, some of our relatives in the larger world discuss humans, those troubled, puzzling late-come additions to Creation.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">WHAT CROW SAYS</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This is how gods are made.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The land is wild and free,
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">soil just beginning to cover the warm
rock.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">One day, the stone lights up</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">with the dreams of animals.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Out of the shining,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">something other awakens.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">These things happen so easily.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Nature is crowded,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">everything intent on being warm.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Who knew what damage dreams could
wreak?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This furless, clawless thing created
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">from whatever’s wasted or not wanted
in us,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">we watched it arise</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">walking on two feet like Bear</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">but so weak and slow.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Bear can outrun a horse,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">kill a deer with one blow.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It should have died but didn’t.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Some tenacity kept it alive</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">and breeding and changing
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">the very world around it</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">We all spoke the same language</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">until that changed, too.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Now we’re left with consequences.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Now we are the other,
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">everything other to this being.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">We are the constant target in the
crosshairs.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Now we live with the burden of being
seen,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">living into our observed death.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Great plans never work out.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Chaos is forever seeping in.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">All it takes is a crack in creation</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">like this to ruin everything.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Here is a wound no spell can heal.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">We’ve tried them all.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Not even Spider can weave us whole
again.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Spoilage creeps over the whole land.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Cherish your wildness.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It’s all we have left.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Live close to the edge.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Published in <i>Dark Sister</i> (Mammoth Publishing, 2018)</div>
<br />Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-59937077313736648252019-04-08T08:40:00.000-05:002019-04-09T17:26:04.377-05:00Tallgrass--a poem for National Poetry Month<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLdPKxkp0dP2co0KG6O4YtTYMLgnQ5LOKxzuZ9XumjuYCKgiO4MaodFCYItKIY85tEJDdgNj52JTzLnJi_sRd1Bg796PBtdVJTbUEMfA_KeNvLPqGe1H8uuPl2EPd9c2HPT6veSTdrowTd/s1600/Flint-Hills-Edwin-Olson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1071" data-original-width="1600" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLdPKxkp0dP2co0KG6O4YtTYMLgnQ5LOKxzuZ9XumjuYCKgiO4MaodFCYItKIY85tEJDdgNj52JTzLnJi_sRd1Bg796PBtdVJTbUEMfA_KeNvLPqGe1H8uuPl2EPd9c2HPT6veSTdrowTd/s320/Flint-Hills-Edwin-Olson.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">One of my favorite places on the planet is the Flint Hills of Kansas. The Flint Hills is the largest surviving Tallgrass Prairie in the country, 4.5 million acres of bluestem and wild animals and cattle and tough people, all survivors. I went to school there, and my parents are buried there. </span></span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-af9b841f-7fff-5ecb-926b-0674889f2062" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "times new roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;">My computer operating system keeps showing me scenes of landscape from around the world that are supposed to be breathtakingly beautiful, and they often are. Still, I know people who drive I-70 west or east through the Flint Hills and insist that the Kansas landscape is just flat and boring. I insist that they must be lying or blind. The Flint Hills inspire me so much that I've written a number of poems about them, and I thought I would put this one up for National Poetry Month to remind us all of the quieter beauty that often surrounds us while we are seeking after what we consider the exotic or fashionable.</span> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">TALLGRASS</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The prairie is a tough place.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Formed when the Rocky Mountain
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">rainshadow killed off the trees,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">millions of buffalo grazed its big
bluestem,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">turkeyfoot, sideoats, switchgrass,
grama, Indiangrass,
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">sweetgrass, prairie dropseed,
buffalograss,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">for millennia, but, big as a nightmare</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">when you encounter one up close,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the buffalo never defeated the prairie.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Summer in tallgrass lands is harsh—</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">blazing hot sun, only occasional rain
in torrents.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Summer turns the plains into grassy
desert,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">But those grass roots plunge deep, deep
into the earth,
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">some twelve or more feet under the
surface.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The soil under a prairie is a dense mat
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of tangled rootstock, rhizomes, tubers,
and bulbs.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Those roots hold out against drought</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and preserve the soil against
thundering</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">gullywashers and toadswampers.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Summer never defeated the prairie.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes lightning strikes,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and fire races across the landscape</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">like water poured out on concrete,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">spreading out with amazing speed and
inevitability.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The prairie compensated by making seeds</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">that need to pass through flame to
germinate.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Fireproof seeds, what an invention!</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The tribes learned to set controlled
fires</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to bring back gayfeather, blazing star,
prairie clover.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Now, ranchers burn the prairie each
spring.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Fire never defeated the prairie.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">As for winter, the waist- and
shoulder-high grasses</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">triumph over the snow, spreading</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">large swathes of sun-colored grasses</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">across the scene, only occasionally
punctuated</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">by a spread of snow along the
meandering paths</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">where animal and human feet have
trodden.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The prairie just absorbs the snow,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">swallowing it down to build stronger,
deeper roots</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to withstand summer’s hot, dry
onslaught.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Winter never defeated the prairie.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Buffalo, white-tailed deer, antelope,
pronghorns,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">gray wolves, coyotes, bobcats, cougars,
red foxes,
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">black-footed ferrets, badgers, shrews,
skunks,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">raccoons, possums, black-tailed prairie
dogs,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">jack rabbits, prairie chickens, bull
snakes,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and the occasional human for centuries
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">made trails and paths through the
grasses
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">by trampling them down or cutting their
stems.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">If paths are not continually maintained</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">by a great deal of manual labor,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">they disappear like smoke.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The prairie will always take them back.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The only thing that ever defeated
prairie</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">was a man with a steel plow.</span></div>
Published in <i>Dark Sister</i> (Mammoth Publishing, 2018)Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-57757447843820061272019-04-02T11:15:00.002-05:002019-04-02T11:15:42.268-05:00AWAKE AT THE END OF NIGHT--a Poem for National Poetry Month<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiYjzJPWy6C_0ev59U5g1UU9EYzV33e1To6S9kp4hSWSeiVVQV0L66genokw3ieN90eiuB3CS8SoV0Jg9QuWIoARkG-5oRNJ6F0l6px9S-P0kOUJV9PT41AUwM4RfsRGtQs5Y7HRKShKnF/s1600/Mimus_polyglottos_adult_02_cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="972" data-original-width="1600" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiYjzJPWy6C_0ev59U5g1UU9EYzV33e1To6S9kp4hSWSeiVVQV0L66genokw3ieN90eiuB3CS8SoV0Jg9QuWIoARkG-5oRNJ6F0l6px9S-P0kOUJV9PT41AUwM4RfsRGtQs5Y7HRKShKnF/s320/Mimus_polyglottos_adult_02_cropped.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">As National Poetry Month begins, I am still battling with this shattered right shoulder that has a destroyed rotator cuff. The good news is that I have finally recovered from the awful illness that help me and its grip much of this winter. </span></span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-2a3f55f2-7fff-123b-cad6-09993cb63497" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: white; font-size: large;">For my first National Poetry Month poem, I thought I would post “Awake at the End of Night,” in part because I am spending so many wakeful nights right now and have in recent months. The wonderful thing about the end of winter is that, during the worst wakeful moments late in the night as morning is approaching, now I can hear the cacophony of bird songs, and it is so welcome. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: white;">There is nothing so lovely as listening to a northern mockingbird sing in the dark. You will find that such an image or sound shows up in the number of my poems, simply because this bird is so important to me. I wish you all a month of marvelous poetry. I am enjoying all of the Poetry that is being posted on Twitter and on Facebook. I hope to post poems several times a week throughout the month on this blog, but I am teaching a pretty intensive class right now in writing the novel with lots of written assignments for the students, entailing lots of written feedback from me, so we'll have to see how the month goes.</span> </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">AWAKE AT THE END OF NIGHT</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Praise the mockingbird singing farewell
to night.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Praise the owl flying home with its
mouse-feast.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Praise the beetle scurrying from sudden
light.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Praise the moon sailing down to sleep.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Praise the branches whipping the house
in the wind.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Praise thunder shaking windows and
walls.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Praise sheets of lightning flaring
across the sky.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Praise the seeds in darkest soil
uncurling.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Praise the tendrils of root and stem
reaching out.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Praise the worm that leaves riches in
burrows behind it.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Praise the rain coursing down the brick
walls.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Praise the blanket wrapping in our body
heat.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Praise the sound of your even sleep
breathing beside me.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Praise the body I wrap my leg around.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Praise the heavy arm thrown over me.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Praise the breath moving in and out
between my mouth and yours.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Praise the spirits of the sun and moon
that live within us.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Praise all things silent and hidden.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Published in <i>Dark Sister</i> (Mammoth Publications, 2018)</span></div>
Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-53380611816349171492018-11-10T21:57:00.000-06:002021-03-24T15:18:51.587-05:00Whitewashing History--A Native American Heritage Month Essay<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitD60uQ4MDwRxtJB2cl7zkVvcEWv5pNXLvZKaY9wPxGfIH0W8o7nfL0wKpzZ8ADU2TYyNEOPlYHMIb-3it2jynYzHNpx1VLXlz-Je7SeCKOmss_SIX3hXqx1M5bOZWOPXcVBnjbv9L39vs/s1600/Trail+of+tears+map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="792" data-original-width="1600" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitD60uQ4MDwRxtJB2cl7zkVvcEWv5pNXLvZKaY9wPxGfIH0W8o7nfL0wKpzZ8ADU2TYyNEOPlYHMIb-3it2jynYzHNpx1VLXlz-Je7SeCKOmss_SIX3hXqx1M5bOZWOPXcVBnjbv9L39vs/s320/Trail+of+tears+map.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Our
current president has a habit of insulting Native America, not only
by calling Senator Warren “Pocahontas,” but by installing a
portrait of Andrew Jackson, architect of Indian Removal and of
genocide, in the Oval Office in the place of honor before bringing in
Native Code Talkers to honor them for their contribution to the war
effort in World War II. The worst, however, is when he says,</span></span></span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span>“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">our
ancestors tamed a continent,”</span></span> and “<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">we
are not going to apologize for America,”</span></span> r<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">eferring
to the destruction of millions of Native lives.</span></span></span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-tame-continent-america-945121?fbclid=IwAR1_NFFTv2-8BaoXNVFMlOWoYrnS_7MMmVofXMSQD5SesSqV7tQdu_mxQIg"><span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-tame-continent-america-945121?fbclid=IwAR1_NFFTv2-8BaoXNVFMlOWoYrnS_7MMmVofXMSQD5SesSqV7tQdu_mxQIg</span></a></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="docs-internal-guid-592519dd-7fff-4c0d-e1eb-4ba4300de514"></a>
“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Our
ancestors tamed a continent,” o</span></span><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">f
course, refers to the idea of the North American continent as
an empty wilderness, devoid of human life, a place ripe for the
taking.</span></span></span></span> <span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Of
course, our current president is not famous for his intelligence or
his knowledge, but this concept of the “Virgin Soil” has had
plenty of play among academics, as well.</span></span></span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="docs-internal-guid-5d022a9f-7fff-9e4b-2a9f-f91b7c2f9cab"></a>
<span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">This
kind of misguided and, in some cases, deliberately dishonest,
information is why I always caution my students in workshops and
classes I teach on writing about other cultures to regard the works
of outside academics as questionable and to give greater weight to
first-person narratives from people within that culture or diaries,
letters, writings, such as poetry or fiction, from people within that
culture. The paragraph below is in every talk I give on this subject
and every lesson in any online class that I teach and speaks directly
to that issue. </span></span></span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">As
a part of this second danger, one thing you must remember about doing
research on other cultures in books, libraries, on the internet, is
that much of it is wrong, accidentally or willfully. Accidentally,
because journalists, anthropologists, other scholars, and explorers
may have misinterpreted what they saw or heard or because—and this
was common—their informants deliberately misinformed them to
protect their people or to protect their own source of whatever the
white man was providing them. Consequently, even primary sources from
past times can be contaminated if they are “as told to” or are
translated. Willfully, because a lot of that research was done by
people, usually white men, who had an agenda that placed wealthy
white male Europeans at the pinnacle of creation and everyone and
everything else downhill from that, which led to eugenics and a lot
of other horrid, stupid things. So there's your second caveat: You
can do your research and still get it wrong in some way.”</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">This
idea that there was no Native genocide because disease alone killed
all the Indigenous peoples on the continent, leaving it conveniently
vacant for Europeans is a race-based “intuitive” theory from the
1970s that has been refuted since the end of the 20</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">century
by scholars actually working with primary documents and other
evidence. The “virgin soil thesis,” based on the belief that
Natives’ lack of immunities and their inept healers were
responsible for their downfall, was propounded by Alfred Crosby in
1976. This theory was quite popular for a time early in the last half
of the 20</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">century
because it placed all the responsibility for the massive death counts
among Indigenous peoples after European arrival on the Indigenous
people themselves because they were genetically weak, lacking in
acquired immunity, and lacking in competent medical care, rather than
on the violence waged against them by Europeans from the very
beginning of contact and continuing into the early 20</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">century.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">As
David S. Jones points out in “Virgin Soils Revisited” in </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
William and Mary Quarterly</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(October
2003), “Perhaps the idea that Indian depopulation can be explained
by the Indians' lack of immunity took hold because it served an
ideological purpose. White physicians in South Africa, for instance,
used virgin soil theory to explain the prevalence of tuberculosis
among African mine workers. … theories of immunological determinism
can still assuage Euroamerican guilt over American Indian
depopulation, whether in the conscious motives of historians or in
the semiconscious desires of their readers. … the epidemics among
American Indians, despite their unusual severity, were caused by the
same forces of poverty, social stress, and environmental
vulnerability that cause epidemics in all other times and places.”</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">David
Stannard argued in </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">American
Holocaust: Columbus and the Conquest of the New World </span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(New
York, 1992) that "by focusing almost entirely on disease, by
displacing responsibility for the mass killing onto an army of
invading microbes, contemporary authors increasingly have created the
impression that the eradication of those tens of millions of people
was inadvertent."</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Paul
Kelton, author of </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Cherokee
Medicine, Colonial Germs: An Indigenous Nation’s Fight Against
Smallpox, 1518-1824 </span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(University
of Oklahoma Press, 2015) and "Avoiding the Smallpox Spirits:
Colonial Epidemics and Southeastern Indian Survival,"
Ethnohistory, 50 (Fall 2003), is yet another of the many scholars who
have gone to actual primary documents and other evidence to examine
this thesis as it pertained to the Cherokee Nation and found that
many epidemics were not as severe as had been claimed or assumed and
that the Cherokee healers and spiritual beliefs were as effective as
the primitive medicines of the Europeans in dealing with smallpox. He
also discusses the part that the overwhelming violence—the bitter
wars that decimated population, the actions of the white settler
armies in destroying towns, homes, farms, and stored harvests in an
attempt to starve the Cherokee, the forced surrender of huge swathes
of territory necessary for a hunting-gathering existence—played in
rendering the surviving remnant of Cherokees susceptible to smallpox
and other illnesses.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">As
far as the idea that the Europeans thought the continents were empty,
there is such abundance of evidence of the contrary that the idea
that academics would put that forth as fact in university classrooms
and scholarly publications is ludicrous. The history of the United
States is filled with statesmen lamenting the fact that American
Indians own the land they want and with their plans and chicanery to
force them to sell or give it or to just force them off the land.
That relentless push westward that came to be called Manifest Destiny
in the 1840s continued from the first landings of Europeans on the
Atlantic Seaboard through the war with Tecumseh, the Indian Removal
Act and many Trails of Tears (killing tens of thousands—one would
think that alone would qualify for designation as ethnic cleansing or
genocide), to the Indian Wars of the 19</span></span><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">th</span></span></sup><sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span></sup><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">century,
while in California, the Spanish mission system devastated the Native
population, and when the Americans took over, they offered official
government bounties on Indian heads. Not exactly the acts of people
who thought the continent was vacant.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As
far as various academics’ statements that the destruction of the
native population could not be genocide because it was not
“deliberate or on purpose,” I offer a tiny sampling of the
quotations from speeches, letters, newspaper articles, and other
documents to be easily found in a search through American history.
The researcher will easily find many, many more quotations from
Franklin, Jefferson, Monroe, Theodore Roosevelt, Lincoln, and many
other Founding Fathers and presidents, as well as governors and other
civic leaders, all speaking of the need to wipe out the Indigenous
population of the continent.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
only good Indians I ever saw were dead.” – General Phil Sheridan</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Damn
any man who sympathizes with Indians. I have come to kill Indians,
and believe it is right and honorable to use any means under god’s
heaven to kill Indians! Scalps are what we are after… I long to be
wading in gore!” – Rev. John M. Chivington, co-founder of the
University of Denver and leader of the Sand Creek Massacre</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Civilization
or death to all American savages." – Major James Norris</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Discovery
gave an exclusive right to extinguish the Indian title of occupancy,
either by purchase or by conquest.” – Chief Justice John Marshall</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
immediate objectives are the total destruction and devastation of
their settlements and the capture of as many prisoners of every age
and sex as possible. It will be essential to ruin their crops in the
ground and prevent their planting more.” – General George
Washington, orders to troops, 1779 [Those captured prisoners of every
age and sex were then sold as slaves to the West Indies.]</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">This
erasure of the destruction of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas
is a pervasive problem in this country. Witness the proponents of the
virgin soil thesis of the past century, who were the modern versions
of the Puritans rejoicing, after one massacre, that they hadn’t had
to commit another due to disease and starvation, thanks to the mighty
hand of God. The history of this country is a history of broken
treaties with Indian nations, a history of massacres and forced
removals that killed many thousands, a history of continuous greed
for the land and other possessions of the Indigenous people and
violence and wars to obtain what was so desired. The history of this
country is a history of theft and slavery, a history of prisoner of
war camps called reservations (that Hitler studied and used as models
for his concentration camps—he admired the efficiency of the U.S.
genocide of its Native population and emulated it in his own Final
Solution), a history of official bounties on Indian heads, skins, and
scalps. The history of this country is a history of kidnapping
children and imprisoning them in boarding “schools,” rife with
physical and emotional abuse—“Kill the Indian to save the man!”—a
history of forced sterilization and medical experimentation without
consent. If you look at it openly, it adds up to something that can
hardly be called anything but ethnic cleansing and genocide.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="background-color: #990000; font-weight: normal;">So,
of course, as a country, we don’t look at it openly—and when
someone forces us to face it, we cry, “Not true! Get over it!
Victim studies! PC,” anything we can to make the awful truth go
away and be buried once again. Still, it happened, and the results of
it remain with us, especially embedded in Native communities and
lives. American popular culture is still in the grip of Manifest
Destiny and “the only good Indian is a dead Indian” with the
enshrinement of the Hollywood Western as one of our great art forms.
I would hope for better from academia, however, where the truth is
supposed to have value above belief in American exceptionalism, but I
am often disappointed.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="background-color: #990000; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="background-color: #990000; font-weight: normal;">This
situation is a perfect example of why we need ethnic studies
classes—and why they should be part of the required core of classes
and not electives that only a few students will take. Our citizens
need to know our history, to know what we’ve done as a country, to
know how we got here today, to know the truth and not the
photoshopped Hollywood version of who we really are. Without that
knowledge, we will continue to make the same mistakes, doomed to
repeat the past we choose not to know.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<br />Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-75869847414025060332018-10-08T12:41:00.000-05:002018-10-08T12:41:22.580-05:00My Columbus Day Poem<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZvpDvwW6aamdXXUX3Gf6IOZ_CiApMPdHbZ-dnAyCZvEcnd8p7C1ToXfPVCzyoWvcpSsX3mJkrpdMVbDrCH_TzfCA5ClBR1iF1IEYFAK4keoVoVK0mCd8yxOp09qtDouZpfU7BBzo_PwTG/s1600/800px-Portrait_of_a_Man%252C_Said_to_be_Christopher_Columbus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="968" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZvpDvwW6aamdXXUX3Gf6IOZ_CiApMPdHbZ-dnAyCZvEcnd8p7C1ToXfPVCzyoWvcpSsX3mJkrpdMVbDrCH_TzfCA5ClBR1iF1IEYFAK4keoVoVK0mCd8yxOp09qtDouZpfU7BBzo_PwTG/s320/800px-Portrait_of_a_Man%252C_Said_to_be_Christopher_Columbus.jpg" width="264" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Officially in the United States, today is Columbus Day, celebrating the rapist, enslaver, torturer, and murderer who accidentally landed in the Caribbean while trying to find India. Apparently, not the brightest bulb on the planet, either. (This day used to be known as Lost Italian Day in my family.) </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">In many cities and states, however, enlightened people have chosen to celebrate Indigenous People's Day, in honor of all those who were robbed of lands, killed, and enslaved by Columbus and those European invaders who followed his lead and of their resilience and that of their descendants.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">As this holiday comes around again in our ever more divided nation--with many people who now say publicly that they would willingly emulate those people like Columbus who killed and enslaved Native people--here is my Columbus Day poem.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">My
Columbus Day Poem</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Sometimes
in the fall of the year,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">men
hit landfall</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">accidentally,
men</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">who
might as well be
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">ravening
beasts</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">for
they do more ravening
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">than
any natural animals
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">who
would be ashamed</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">to
make welcoming people into slaves,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">rape
women and girls before killing,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">set
war dogs on naked unarmed
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">prisoners
just for fun,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">for
the vicious excitement,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">the
sense of power.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Power,
it’s always all about</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">power—and
gold and sex and land</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">and
power. Slavery</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">in
the name of Catholic Christ</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">and
empire. Land, millions of miles,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">because
no one else discovered</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">it,
not even the millions living on it.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">With
a wave of a papal pen,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">negate
lives of nations,
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">make
them resources like beaver,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">buffalo,
bear.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Solve
inconvenient death
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">rates
by ravaging</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">a
different continent.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Looting
Africa means no more</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">use
for rebellious Natives.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Wipe
them out.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Clear
the continent</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">from
sea to shining</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">and
years later</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">celebrate</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">with
sales and parades.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Sometimes
in the fall of the year,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I
grow so tired</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">of
anger and tears,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">the
bitter stink of history.</span></div>
<br />Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-25102276359051254772018-10-02T15:56:00.000-05:002018-10-02T15:56:36.832-05:00The War Against Women That No One Wants to Admit--and a Poem<b><span style="color: yellow;">Trigger Warnings for child molestation and abuse and for sexual assault and domestic violence.</span></b><br />
<br />
Whenever I read this poem in public, I preface it with a statement that there is a war against women taking place, followed by the current statistics on sexual assault, rape, physical assault, and murder, statistics that have risen every time I check them again and which are always worse for women of color and Native women. I don't read this poem in public much, however, because it makes men uncomfortable--they shift in their seats visibly--and it brings so many women up to me afterward in tears to say that this poem was about their own lives. I have begun to feel that I should provide a therapist to the audience before I read it.<br />
<br />
As we live through this Kavanaugh hearings/investigation nightmare, however, this poem feels appropriate. This is, ultimately, what patriarchy comes down to--women and girls at the mercy of men hurting them, simply because they can. We can always hope that they won't--and not all of them do--but ultimately, they can. And they can get away with it over and over again, while women who try to keep them from getting away with it suffer and pay a huge price. Nothing there has really changed since I was a girl, except that women are generally less and less inclined to go quietly along. Our rage has grown too great. Though things were supposed to have changed, this Kavanaugh situation has shown us that they haven't. But they will. They must.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
P.O.W.</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
Before I fall into the past,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
I drive to the library,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
thumb open a book</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
about the death of a child</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
in Greenwich Village and</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
plunge</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
back</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
in</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
time</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
to trash-filled rooms smelling</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
of milk, urine, beer and blood,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
doors locked and curtains drawn</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
against the world,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
dirty baby brother caged in a playpen,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
mother nursing broken nose,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
split lip, overflowing ashtray,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
and father filling the room to the ceiling,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
shouting drunken songs and threats</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
before whom I tremble and dance,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
wobbly diversion, to keep away</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
the sound of fist against face,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
bone against wall.</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
<br />
</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
The book never shows</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
the other little brothers and sister hiding</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
around corners and under covers,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
but I know they are there</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
and dance faster,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
sing the songs that give him pleasure,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
pay the price for their sleep</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
later, his hand pinching flat nipples,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
thrusting between schoolgirl thighs,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
as dangerous to please as to anger</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
the giant who holds the keys</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
to our family prison. Mother</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
has no way to keep him from me,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
but I can do it for her and them.</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
<br />
</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
Locked by these pages</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
behind enemy lines again</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
where I plan futile sabotage</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
and murder every night,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
nine-year-old underground,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
I read the end.</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
Suddenly defiant, attacked,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
slammed into a wall,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
sliding into coma, death</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
after the allies arrive,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
too late, in clean uniforms so like his own</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
to shake their heads at the smell and mess—</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
the end I almost believe,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
the end that chance keeps at bay</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
long enough for me to grow and flee,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
my nightmare alive on the page.</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
<br />
</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
Freed too late,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
I close the book,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
two hours vanished,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
stand and try to walk</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
to the front door on uncertain legs</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
as if nothing were wrong.</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
No one must know.</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
I look at those around me</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
without seeming to,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
an old skill,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
making sure no one can tell.</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
Panic pushes me to the car</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
where the back window reflects</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
a woman, the unbruised kind.</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
<br />
</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
In the space of three quick breaths</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
I recognize myself,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
slam back into adult body and life,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
drive home repeating a mantra,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
“Ben will never hurt me--</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
All men are not violent,”</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
reminding myself to believe the first,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
to hope for the last.</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
<br />
</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
<br />
</div>
<div align="CENTER" class="sdendnote">
II</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
<br />
</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
Years later, my little sister will sleep,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
pregnant, knife under her pillow,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
two stepdaughters huddled</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
at the foot of her bed,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
in case her husband</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
breaks through the door</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
again. Finally,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
she escapes</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
with just the baby.</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
<br />
</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
My daughter calls collect</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
from a pay phone on a New Hampshire street.</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
She’ll stay in a shelter for battered women,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
be thrown against the wall</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
returning to pack</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
for the trip back to Missouri,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
a week before her second anniversary.</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
With her father and brother,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
the trip home will take three days,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
and she will call for me again.</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
<br />
</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
Ana and Kay, who sat in my classes,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
Vicky, who exchanged toddlers with me once a
week,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
Pat and Karen, who shared my work,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
and two Nancys I have known,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
among others too many to count,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
hide marks on their bodies and memories,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
while at the campus women’s center</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
where I plan programs for women students</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
on professional advancement</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
and how to have it all,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
the phone rings every week with calls we forward</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
to safe houses and shelters.</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
<br />
</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
In my adult life, I’ve suffered no man</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
to touch me in anger,</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
but I sleep light.</div>
<div class="sdendnote">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Published in </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Heart’s
Migration</i></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> (Tia Chucha Press, 2009)</span></div>
<br />Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-17651450226101620432018-09-21T11:30:00.000-05:002018-09-21T11:31:56.385-05:00A poem for Kavanaugh and the other men like himSources have told reporters that the GOP leadership is concerned about all the open anger from women circulating about the Kavanaugh nomination and the way they are dismissing, minimizing, and flat out blowing off the allegations against him of sexual assault. They're fearful that the Republican party will pay a steep price at the ballot box for their open acceptance of rape and sexual assault--and downright stunned at the fierce reaction of women. Who knew this was such a sensitive issue?<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/brett-kavanaugh-accuser-testimony-damaging-republicans-1127225">https://www.newsweek.com/brett-kavanaugh-accuser-testimony-damaging-republicans-1127225</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.politicususa.com/2018/09/19/republicans-fear-kavanaugh-sex-allegations-will-hurt-them-in-midterms.html">https://www.politicususa.com/2018/09/19/republicans-fear-kavanaugh-sex-allegations-will-hurt-them-in-midterms.html</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a23318062/brett-kavanaugh-hurt-republicans-midterm-elections/">https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a23318062/brett-kavanaugh-hurt-republicans-midterm-elections/</a><br />
<br />
Twitter and Facebook are full of women telling of their own stories of assault at a young age that are much like Dr. Blasey Ford's and of the pain, fear, shame, and lasting damage they've endured. Other women are trying to comfort and support them. And yes, we're filled with rage.<br />
<br />
Here's a poem of my own to explain to these men what they're dealing with and what they've unleashed.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
CONFESSION</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
is good for the soul, they tell us,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
but what of the body, pressed</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
into service against its will but
lacking</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
ability to say no, being female</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
and young and poor and only</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“some little half-breed girl,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
you know what they're like,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
born fucking,” implicit permission
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
of the white man's imagination?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Backed into corners, pulled into
alleys,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
too small, body still growing,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
to put up a good fight against
grown-man muscle,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
coming away with bruises, black eyes,
broken
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
jaw one time, but fighting hard and
blind spitting crazy
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
enough to make it not worth their while</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
to consummate. The refuse-to-remember
first time
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
taught that fear-backed rage, that
cunning
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
need to find anything at hand to
inflict pain,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
make them stop, lamp, end table, chair,
boom box,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
teeth to arm, stomp on instep, kick to
groin.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Grown now, safe, heavy, elder,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
if my surroundings smell wrong,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
they suddenly flick me back—old, bad,
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
dangerous times. I forget I'm not small
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
and powerless. Fury fills my veins, and
eyes
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
search for something to transform into
weapon,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
whole body throbbing with desire</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
to punish, inflict pain, drive off,
destroy.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I walk through the world, a quiet lie.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Such dark lives within me</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
like a hidden serpent, rage-dragon,</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
while I politely order tea.</div>
<br />Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-74591916504534737982018-08-31T17:14:00.000-05:002018-08-31T17:14:08.824-05:00Hand Therapy--A Writer's Poem for the Labor Day Weekend<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKhhPB1nCgI1asKSBBVsGJ7H0SMhNYmm3nKiQsXxRTWBXJr2UhT5qtSpQ9Irr59juqawwDMQaIliqPPw3aFOvq1QYr3w-UZluhkfHWAYR2SB1_q_YQAE3VOaaLq3NCMLSXideL3GNdicGu/s1600/Hand+exercises+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="630" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKhhPB1nCgI1asKSBBVsGJ7H0SMhNYmm3nKiQsXxRTWBXJr2UhT5qtSpQ9Irr59juqawwDMQaIliqPPw3aFOvq1QYr3w-UZluhkfHWAYR2SB1_q_YQAE3VOaaLq3NCMLSXideL3GNdicGu/s320/Hand+exercises+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
After two months of immobilization of the right arm and shoulder to try to begin the healing for my badly shattered right shoulder joint that needed but couldn't have complete surgical replacement, my right hand was not working well. I couldn't sign my name, and my signature with my left hand was totally illegible.<br />
<br />
As I've been able to slowly begin physical therapy for the shoulder and arm, I've also been doing PT exercises for the hand, as well. Two weeks ago tonight, I gave a poetry reading at The Writers Place in Kansas City, and I was able to sign copies of my new book of poetry, <i>Dark Sister</i>, that folks so kindly bought. This was a big step forward for me.<br />
<br />
I have always been a handwritten journal person. I collect beautiful notebooks and journals and fountain pens, and people give them to me as gifts. I wrote in one most days of each week. I haven't been able to since April 4th, when I fell and shattered this shoulder. But tonight I have handwritten a short paragraph in my current journal. My therapist told me to do it every day now until it hurts, along with spinning and knitting, because it will help exercise and strengthen the muscles and tendons.<br />
<br />
Something about this whole idea reminded me of what we writers do, so here's a poem about that.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">HAND
THERAPY</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bring
your palms together in prayer</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">against
your chest. Feel the pull</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">in
the once-broken right wrist.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Release,
relax, and repeat ten times.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Squeeze
the putty to make a fist.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Pinch
it between your thumb and each finger,</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">one
after another down the length</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">of
the squeezed-out roll, creating a wavy snake.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Hook
the tips of all four fingers, trying</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">to
touch tips to bases, but inches of air</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">keep
them apart. Pull those fingertips</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">to
the center of the palm to make a fist</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">without
the putty’s help. Stretch them</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">down
toward the base of the hand.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Struggle
to hold a pen and write a line.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Stop
when the fingers tingle and go numb.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">For
what are we humans without the hand, clever, useful </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">appendage,
connected so closely to our big brains,</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">that
cuts, creases, carries, and caresses </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">our
way through daily obstacles and opportunities.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Write
another line and a second before the pain </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">sets
in—the way every writer has to work.</span></span></div>
<br />Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-27758196890228889262018-08-21T08:47:00.000-05:002018-08-22T16:47:01.902-05:00The Last Beloved Woman of the Cherokee--Poem<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheyqcrlndjmXlldT52B9ZExq1WS1vXpn7hUXp91CvIVHLE_q0ShyqTw76LG9FUJwn5jX_jpLh3Q2FRMybE8hUBOQ1Bh-_BiY65HAx-dbjSeqbJXtOL5qq94XzqlKh55DEs9jRpZiBk7Ivv/s1600/She+speaks+for+her+clan+by+Dorothy+Sullivan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="336" data-original-width="564" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheyqcrlndjmXlldT52B9ZExq1WS1vXpn7hUXp91CvIVHLE_q0ShyqTw76LG9FUJwn5jX_jpLh3Q2FRMybE8hUBOQ1Bh-_BiY65HAx-dbjSeqbJXtOL5qq94XzqlKh55DEs9jRpZiBk7Ivv/s320/She+speaks+for+her+clan+by+Dorothy+Sullivan.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"She speaks for her clan" by Dorothy Sullivan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">The Cherokee, like so many Native nations, were matrilineal. The fields, homes, and children all remained with the mother and her family if the couple separated. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Women had political influence in the councils, could negotiate with other nations, and were clan leaders. When European men first encountered the Cherokee, they were appalled at the influence Cherokee women had at a time when they kept their own women as chattel. In turn, the Cherokee men were appalled that the Europeans had no women in their councils.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;">The highest role a Cherokee woman could achieve was "ghi gua," Beloved Woman or War Woman. Nanye-hi, the subject of this poem, had served an apprenticeship in diplomacy with her powerful uncle, Attakullakulla, so she was well-prepared for the role she held for most of her adult life. She also saved the life of a white captive and learned from her how to weave cloth on a European loom, bringing that knowledge back to her people. It was said that, upon her death, a white light left her body and entered the most sacred mound in the Mother Town, Chota, at a time when Removal (which she had fought against for so long) was almost upon the Cherokee.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Nanye-hi was the last Beloved Woman of the Cherokee until the 1980s. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">THE LAST BELOVED WOMAN</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Mother-clanned, the Cherokee towns,
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">farms, and orchards, before all were
stolen
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">by those who forced the People on the
long dread march west,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">belonged to the women, as did the
children.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Nanye-hi, in 1738 born
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">a daughter of the Wolf Clan,
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">married Kingfisher, bore two children.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">During the Battle of Taliwa,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">she took her dead husband’s place,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">avenged his death, rallied warriors to
victory,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">became a <i>ghi gua</i>.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Ghi gua</i>, or Beloved Woman,
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">title given by the seven clans
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to women who had served the People</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">as warriors and mothers both.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Given a swan’s wing and special place
in council,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the <i>ghi gua</i> even held a voting
seat
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">on the Council of Chiefs. With their
swan wings,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">they had the final say
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">over whether the town went to war.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Today I watch women go to a war foolish
as many,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">often leaving babies behind.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Something’s out of synch, though.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It’s still old men, who’ve never
set foot on battlefield</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">nor suckled a babe, making decisions of
war and peace.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Nanye-hi married again, a white man
named Ward.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Nancy Ward, the <i>ghi gua</i>,
respected
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">among Cherokees and settlers,
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">warned settlements of impending
attacks,
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to prevent complete war,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">negotiated treaties, all later broken.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">At the end of life, settlers forced
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Nanye-hi from her home to die before
the Trail of Tears.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Trying to fit the white man’s mold,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the Cherokee shed their councils.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">No place for Beloved Women.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Nanye-hi Nancy Ward was the last <i>ghi
gua</i>.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We need women with swan wings.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Published in <i>Dark
Sister</i> (Mammoth Publications, 2018)</span></div>
<br />Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-6828506611172575442018-08-01T15:04:00.000-05:002018-08-01T15:04:03.369-05:00Drunk Screenwriters Write My Family History<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ6tclUbMX5EvAiWwx51ObAQXGD6gzGPj6dlCYn6OT7h8P8B50hyPU5ALJFCvOR-1_T7wy5ZA8jRPJm92ad9Vr0H2PIfnp0gh7tAjwHU10imMNUkuWVj2MgIHvKrowTb9aGz-20W0P_OGX/s1600/drunk+writrs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="344" data-original-width="515" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ6tclUbMX5EvAiWwx51ObAQXGD6gzGPj6dlCYn6OT7h8P8B50hyPU5ALJFCvOR-1_T7wy5ZA8jRPJm92ad9Vr0H2PIfnp0gh7tAjwHU10imMNUkuWVj2MgIHvKrowTb9aGz-20W0P_OGX/s320/drunk+writrs.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">My husband is an internationally
recognized scholar in his field and a research maven, so naturally he
was drawn to the project of tracing my family history with a
grandmother who had married and divorced thirteen times to ten
different men. Most experts like a challenge, and my convoluted
family history seemed a challenge he would take on and defeat easily
with his ninja research skills. This weekend at lunch, he moaned to
me about the latest bizarre twist he'd uncovered. “The more
information I collect, the more confusing it gets, and the less I
know,” he complained.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We laughed at the strange tale he's
just uncovered about my great-grandparents and the way that means he
once again has much more work to do and it will be more difficult. He
said, “No one would believe any novel you wrote with all the
unbelievable but true stories about your family. They'd say it's too
contrived and incredible.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">This left me picturing a group of drunk
screenwriters sitting around, desperate to pitch a story that will
excite the studio execs and get funding and become a huge hit.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Amy says, “We'll begin with a guy who
marries a woman while he's using an assumed name—and he doesn't
tell her about it for years, but when he does, she has kids and goes
on with him under his real name.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Dave adds, “But they keep divorcing
each other, marrying different people, then divorcing those people,
and remarrying each other again and again.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“Yeah, I like it,” says Martin.
“They're each the great love of the other's life, but they just
can't seem to make it work. That's give us lots of dramatic
conflict.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“And then,” Amy continues, on a
real roll now, “their oldest daughter, who's grown up with all this
passionate craziness, gets married young and leaves husband and baby
a year later to marry another guy, whom she leaves in less than two
years with another baby, to go marry a guy with the Texas Rangers,
who gets killed in a gunfight, causing her to lose another baby, and
then she goes on a real tear, marrying and divorcing guys all over
the place.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Martin laughs as he's taking a swig of
vodka and spits it all over. “And one of them is an immigrant from
Czechoslovakia who loves her so much that he keeps hanging around
even after she dumps him and remarries her whenever she's in some
kind of trouble, but keeps hanging around even after she jilts him
again and again.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Dave nods with a grin. “Loyal Dobbin.
Every story needs a loyal Dobbin.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“We've got to make it weirder,”
says Amy. “More complications. Maybe the Texas Ranger isn't really
dead and starts trying to find her, but she's marrying all these guys
and taking their names. Oh. And she starts out as Bessie, but she
decides Agnes is a name with more class—she's trying to marry her
way up the social ladder, a real Becky Sharp right out of Thackeray
on the American frontier.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“Nah! Make it Indian Territory before
it became Oklahoma and make her an Indian and some of these guys she
marries early on Indians, too, but then she's going for richer white
guys.” Dave grins again. “And of course, we've got Martin's crazy
Czech hanging around, poor at first but he could be making himself
richer and richer for the sake of her.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“I like it!” Martin says. “And
she also masquerades as someone named Dolly, too, when she wants to
get out of a tight situation. Then, as she gets older and more
settled, we've got those abandoned kids to come looking for her and
make her life difficult in revenge.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“I've got it!” shouts Dave, jumping
around and half-falling over in drunken excitement. “She was the
oldest of a big family and born while that father was still using a
false name. Her birth name isn't even what she thinks it is. Maybe
her dad was a crook or a wanted man of some kind. Maybe someone finds
out and blackmails her.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“Yes!” screams Amy. “When she's
older and thinks it's all behind her, her son can come back and rape
her baby sister she's always been closest to, and on her deathbed,
her daughter will find her and accuse her of ruining her life and
tell her she's glad she's dying.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Martin shakes his head. “Dammit! I
hate that Bette Davis is dead. Would she make a great Bessie/Agnes or
what? It would be Oscars all the way. I can see it now.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The three are now so drunk and stoned
on the weed they've been smoking along the way that they just lay
back in a beatific stupor, sure that they've come up with the
greatest movie concept ever and their fortunes are surely made.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I am married to a man of fortitude,
however, and he has only begun to fight. He's currently trying to
track down the marriage certificate for that initial marriage between
my great-grandparents under the false name—and who knows what new
dramatic material he will uncover when he does?</span></div>
<br />Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-69885302491575284342018-07-01T17:00:00.000-05:002018-07-01T17:00:54.748-05:00On Listservs, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Sisters in Crime<br />
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">As
some of my friends and followers on social media know, I have been
distressed by reactions to the ALSC renaming of the Laura Ingalls
Wilder Award, as expressed on the Sisters in Crime listserv. In
part, this disappointment was because Sisters in Crime had recently
launched a diversity initiative of some ambition and had been taking
a lot of the right steps to make their overwhelmingly white
organization truly inclusive, so I had a lot of love and hope and
high expectations for this organization of writers. The many comments
that ranged from simply entitled and tone-deaf to dog whistles to
open racism (an actual comparison of the award name change to
lynching, for example) felt like a direct slap in the face to Native
and African American writers and readers, while some with broader
references like “putrid political correctness” and “victim
culture,” probably slammed home with other writers and readers of
color, with disabilities, in the LGBTQ community, as well. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">They
certainly reminded me, viscerally, of the hurt I felt when I was a
childish bookworm reading Wilder's books and encountering statements
that insulted and diminished Native people, such as “there were no
people there, only Indians.” When a famous and respected writer
writes that you and your family are not even really human, the child
you were sustains damage, whether you become defensive and angry to
protect your people or ashamed and feeling guilt about your own
heritage and culture. One of my friends was African American, and as
I read what Wilder wrote about African Americans, I had wondered if
it hurt her as much as her remarks about Natives hurt me—and I had
thought it surely must.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">The
angry comments in reaction to the award name change filled the
listserv in an onslaught with only a couple of people (for whom I am
truly grateful) speaking out against them. It looked so lopsided that
I almost gave up hope for the organization. This was probably easier
to do because of the dark political climate of the past two years—and
especially the past week. As all these stressors from the national
stage pile up incrementally, it becomes easier to despair, and any
kind of optimism becomes difficult to manage, creating extra impact
for any local negativity, especially if it echoes the national trend
of targeting Natives, people of color, people with disabilities,
LGBTQ people, immigrants, Muslims, poor people, and women. (It
probably didn't help that I am housebound with a shattered right
shoulder and other injuries connected to that. Injury and illness are
depression's handmaids.)</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">Then,
after a private conversation with me about the situation and social
media posts about it by me and others, a past president of
the organization, Catriona MacPherson, wrote a passionate but lucid
and cogent essay on Facebook
(<a href="https://www.facebook.com/catriona.mcpherson.54/posts/1169564503186127">https://www.facebook.com/catriona.mcpherson.54/posts/1169564503186127</a>)</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">in
rebuttal of the problematic comments on the Sisters in Crime listserv
(reminding me immediately of why she is one of my favorite people).
Hundreds of people in the mystery community and SinC responded to her
post—all in support, save one. More than 175 people shared her post
on Facebook, often with their own statements of support added, and
each of those shared posts accumulated many responses from the
mystery community, almost all supportive, as far as I could see. Then
some of the people who had shared her essay put their own strong
statements in favor of the name change or in support of members from
marginalized communities on the SinC listserv, and I began to see
that my initial faith in the organization had been justified. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">Finally,
the Sisters in Crime Board closed the listserv, with President Kendel
Lynn saying its eventual closure had been discussed for some time,
but this ugly discussion had prompted them to shut it down now, in
hopes of reinventing it soon in some way that would be healthier,
more constructive, and less likely to become hurtful.
(<a href="https://www.facebook.com/sistersincrime/posts/1454969294649630">https://www.facebook.com/sistersincrime/posts/1454969294649630</a>)
I didn't particularly want the listserv closed, and I don't think
anyone else did, either, but I believe the Board faced a difficult
situation with no easy solutions and made the best decision they
could after one of the listserv monitors tried to end the discussion
on this topic and was completely ignored. The Board made a decision
that they knew would be unpopular with some members, because they
wanted to keep the organization true to its expressed ideals. They
have my respect for their courage and commitment to the
organization's mission and goals.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I
have been burned many times by organizations that talk the diversity
and inclusiveness talk but fail to make needed changes to carry out
these goals or retreat when faced with divisive situations, such as
this that Sisters in Crime faced. SinC and the mystery field, in
general, are overwhelmingly white, ablebodied, and heterosexual but
more and more writers from marginalized communities are showing up
and being published—and the field has always had interest for
readers from those communities. The situation that Sisters in Crime
and the larger mystery community is facing is one that all literary
communities in this country face. It is the same situation that our
nation as a whole faces. The many communities of people who have been
left out or dismissed or openly (or covertly) oppressed are tired of
the status quo and insist that the United States live up to its
expressed ideals. This upsets, frightens, threatens, and enrages
people who have benefited, willingly or unwillingly, consciously or
unconsciously, from the status quo. </span></span>
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: white; font-size: small;">Publishing
and the mystery field are a microcosm of that larger situation.
Sisters in Crime, which began thirty-two years ago as an advocacy and
mutual support organization for women in crime fiction, who faced
discrimination and prejudice, has had great success in that initial
mission and has now expanded it to include other kinds of
discrimination and prejudice. I look forward to seeing the
organization once again leading the way in the field of crime fiction
and in publishing itself, as it has proven itself so capable of
doing.</span></span></div>
<br />Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-72666220994659955612018-05-28T19:08:00.000-05:002018-05-28T19:08:36.848-05:00In Memoriam<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg19_uXXL_JGgDQLTxv7ymPpZPrY5GHy1KoN5zfgHtw-JfLXq_wXwK68CD7LMpNfV8Azgzm8IRRzyiKGlfSqg2SKQuPctQGlQtB3vvtmgkKdsCv2KbyCHQRRU6cwl6xwAUhHfTv7Bocf0w-/s1600/Trail+of+tears+map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="792" data-original-width="1600" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg19_uXXL_JGgDQLTxv7ymPpZPrY5GHy1KoN5zfgHtw-JfLXq_wXwK68CD7LMpNfV8Azgzm8IRRzyiKGlfSqg2SKQuPctQGlQtB3vvtmgkKdsCv2KbyCHQRRU6cwl6xwAUhHfTv7Bocf0w-/s320/Trail+of+tears+map.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">On this day 188 years ago, May 28, 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which led to the deaths of over 1/4 of the total Cherokee population and thousands more from Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, Seminole, Delaware, Shawnee, and Osage nations. The Cherokee fought this act in Congress and in the courts, all the way to the Supreme Court, in fact, where the Court ruled against Jackson and found the Cherokee a "sovereign nation." Jackson famously taunted the Court with their inability to enforce that decision and sent the Army in to round up the Cherokee, imprison them in internment camps, and forcibly drive them across the country to Indian Territory.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">In memory of my ancestors, here is a poem to mark this dark day in American history.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">INDIAN
REMOVAL CARTOGRAPHY
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I
fought through the War Between the States and have seen many men
shot, but the Cherokee Removal was the cruelest work I ever
knew.”</span></span><br /><cite>— </cite><cite><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Georgia
soldier who participated in the removal</span></span></cite><br /><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It’s
an old map,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">looks
hand-drawn.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Starting
in Georgia,
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">North
Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">a
broad swath of territory</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">belonging
to the Cherokee,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">yet
shrunken so</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">from
where the first Europeans found them,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">that
kidney-shaped province</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">splayed
across the states
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">contracts
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">down
to these thin lines</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">marking
the paths they were forced to travel.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This
old-looking map</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">has
been modified for the modern scholar</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">with
gray-banded place names highlighted.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">When
you hover a computer mouse</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">over
one of these shaded names,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">pertinent
facts appear.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">From
New Echota, capital of the Cherokee Nation
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">in
1838, now a state park,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">to
Fort Butler, one of five North Carolina stockades
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">where
Cherokee were held under foul conditions,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">to
Fort Payne, yet another
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">removal
fort and internment camp in Alabama,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">to
Ross’s Landing where more than 2,000 were held prisoner</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">and
departed in three large groups</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">to
travel to Indian Territory by water.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The
Unicoi Turnpike, an ancient war and trading path,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">took
other groups onto the Trail of Tears,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">is
now designated a Millennium Trail.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Charleston,
Tennessee, where 13,000 were held</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">for
months, waiting to begin their unwilling trek</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">across
five states in winter.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Hopkinsville,
Kentucky,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Chief
Whitepath died and was buried here,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">remarkable
for being one of the few
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">whose
graves are known.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Hover
long enough over Hopkinsville</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">and
the screen will tell you</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">“Most
of the thousands of Cherokees who died on the Trail lie in unmarked
graves.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Published in <i>Dark Sister</i> (Mammoth Publications, 2018)</span></div>
Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-42830850232363454052018-05-27T19:11:00.000-05:002018-05-27T19:11:30.536-05:00Catching Up, or Why I Was Gone<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-sMPaTZAdisb9LLYClxZ2kVPY-5AriNNajJrG43jOUGPKIdLVupKSVhsk4aw838y0j8HuEpo1nJOAbFhE0iMKpewhSnPJaJRi0jd8WY20ds2syCkDAt8klSjvyC_NBPFdqGQfUUD18B2Z/s1600/broken+shoulder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="448" data-original-width="673" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-sMPaTZAdisb9LLYClxZ2kVPY-5AriNNajJrG43jOUGPKIdLVupKSVhsk4aw838y0j8HuEpo1nJOAbFhE0iMKpewhSnPJaJRi0jd8WY20ds2syCkDAt8klSjvyC_NBPFdqGQfUUD18B2Z/s320/broken+shoulder.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I have been a very uneven blogger here lately, in part because
this past winter has been a physical disaster for me. After
developing Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA), a major illness that requires
me to be on massive steroids in a maintenance dose for possibly years
and the pain and difficulties I went through with that before it was
diagnosed and treated, I then contracted the awful H3N2 flu that
turned into bronchitis and knocked over a month out of my life. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">As we began to come into spring, and I was just getting starting to
get back on my feet slightly after the flu and bronchitis, I fell and
shattered my right shoulder. This has left me almost totally
disabled. I am right handed, and it's not just the arm that I cannot
use but the shoulder, as well, so it's basically the whole upper
right side of my body that cannot be used. You would be surprised how
much you cannot do if you <span style="font-family: inherit;">cannot use the upper right side of your
body. Even hauling yourself out of the recliner you must spend </span>most
of your time in can be difficult—or impossible, in my case.
(Luckily, I have a lift recliner chair arriving Tuesday, which should
allow me more independence.)
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4xLW27J-9NZ_F3iM5hyphenhyphenljdK7UcofQK411zXBtCJDrc3oFWgBeZt2Y4HlgHagdiSavmxr-m3nYeHDbFBb7br3jNQQtYVbRA5y43EVJfl1rHBxcj85vzmm3E3jGevMyNAMHZOHYuAsJnxG-/s1600/broken+shoulder+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4xLW27J-9NZ_F3iM5hyphenhyphenljdK7UcofQK411zXBtCJDrc3oFWgBeZt2Y4HlgHagdiSavmxr-m3nYeHDbFBb7br3jNQQtYVbRA5y43EVJfl1rHBxcj85vzmm3E3jGevMyNAMHZOHYuAsJnxG-/s320/broken+shoulder+2.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">My right arm and shoulder have been immobilized by the doctors.
Because I'm on all the steroids and because I have lymphedema in that
arm from my radical mastectomy for breast cancer, I am a really poor
risk for surgery, even though that shoulder requires a complete
shoulder replacement. We are, instead, trying to get the shoulder to
heal in some jury-rigged way without surgery.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I
have, after the first week, continued to do work on freelance writing
and editing contracts and teach a large, intensive online class in
writing a novel. The only way I am doing this is with voice
recognition software, which is also how I am completing this blog.
Because of all this, I will probably still be rather hit and miss
with this blog for awhile here. Voice recognition software has not
reached a great pinnacle of efficiency. It does save me a lot of time
and a lot of work with my left hand, which is excellent, because my
left shoulder and elbow have damage from lupus, and I don't need to
injure them further. But after dictating, I must go over and correct
multiple mistakes that the software puts into my text. Random
capitalizations all over the place. Words that may have been mistaken
for others. Typos. Egregious misspellings. It's quite time consuming.
(So please forgive any typos I've missed.)</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Just
as I went down with the flu, my next book of poetry was published.
<i>Dark Sister</i> is truly a book of my heart. It is a book of poems
that are based in my family, in my heritage, and in my community.
They deal with some of the things that are most important to me in
the world. Unfortunately, I have not been able to do what I planned
or would have wished to promote this book. I hope to be able to do
more in the future. I would greatly appreciate anyone who is
interested in buying or reviewing the book. <i>Dark Sister</i> is my
10th book to be published, rather a significant milestone that I
would like to celebrate by promoting the book and helping it to find
its readership. It had been seven years since my last book of poetry,
<i>Heart's Migration</i>, which brought me awards and opportunities,
but in those seven years, I published seven other books, including
several anthologies of other poets' work.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I
also had hoped to bring back my blog series, Books of Interest by
Writers of Color. So many wonderful writers of color are publishing
terrific books right now. This is a golden age for these books by
diverse authors. Unfortunately, most of them are from very small
houses without promotion and publicity budgets, and they get very
little distribution and very little publicity. So I would really like
to be once again promoting these books and letting readers, teachers,
and librarians know about them with links to buy them. That will,
unfortunately, have to wait until I am a little further along in
recovery, I'm afraid. That's a big disappointment to me.
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I
do hope, however, to blog more regularly here, as I get better at
using the voice recognition software and begin to heal and regain use
of my right arm and shoulder little by little. So I hope to visit
with you more often and begin my Books of Interest by Writers of
Color series again soon. There are SOOOO many terrific books I want
to tell you about!</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<br />Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-75906554436055934252018-05-12T23:25:00.001-05:002018-05-12T23:25:45.968-05:00Remembering My Mother on Mother's Day With A Poem<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Mother's
Day is always a difficult holiday for me. As with many people my age,
I buried my mother a number of years ago. So this day that celebrates
mothers can be tough. </span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">I find it especially difficult because my
mother and I did not have a good relationship for the majority of my
life, especially near the end of hers. My mother was never able to show me
any kind of love or affection, no matter how much I showered her
with, and this was always an open wound in my life. </span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">I know many
other women who have had similar dysfunctional relationships with
their mothers, so I know this is not a unique problem. Mother's Day
is not the warm and fuzzy holiday for us that it is for women whose
mothers are still alive and with whom they have/had close, loving
relationships. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="color: white; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">I
love my mother and miss her terribly even after all these years , but
I also longed for her and missed her in much the same way during her
actual lifetime. So this post and this poem are for my mother on
Mother's Day—and for all the other women out there like me who
still long for and miss their mothers, even after their deaths. A
complicated woman in a complicated relationship, who, like most
mothers , did the best she could, I suspect. </span>
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">CONVERSATION WITH MY
MOTHER’S PICTURE</span></div>
<br />
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">You and Dad were entirely
happy here—</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3b_bHhJ_eLr_SE_SZeT8EULnjtqdzohZSYKvbGwvOM7UrsvuoynnwFMabgVVxbRBTMdXwOZkDm2zUjPnEaRj-dqgFGBmLM-cikiiDspzDQeEXsoCLMoMixmaht4pW40vq0vrj2wZ9LqGJ/s1600/kstate.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="629" data-original-width="689" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3b_bHhJ_eLr_SE_SZeT8EULnjtqdzohZSYKvbGwvOM7UrsvuoynnwFMabgVVxbRBTMdXwOZkDm2zUjPnEaRj-dqgFGBmLM-cikiiDspzDQeEXsoCLMoMixmaht4pW40vq0vrj2wZ9LqGJ/s200/kstate.png" width="200" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">you in purple miniskirt,
white vest and tights</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">(you always wore what was
already too young</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">for me), Dad in purple
striped pants,</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">a Kansas State newsboy’s
cap
</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">made for a bigger man’s
head.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">You both held Wildcat
flags and megaphones</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">to cheer the football
team who,</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">like the rest of the
college, despised you</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">middle-aged townies,
arranging for their penicillin</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">and pregnancy tests and
selling them</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">cameras and stereos at
deep discount.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">But you were happy</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">in this picture, before
they found</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">oat-cells in your lungs.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">After the verdict, he
took you to Disneyland,</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">this man who married you
and your five children</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">when I was fifteen. He
took you cross-country</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">to visit your family,
unseen</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">since your messy divorce.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">He took you to St. Louis</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">and Six Flags Over Texas
and to Topeka</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">for radiation treatments.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I don’t think he ever
believed</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">you could die. Now he’s
going</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">the same way. And none of
us</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">live in that Wildcat town
with the man</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">who earned his “Dad”
the hard way</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">from suspicious kids and
nursed</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">your last days. For me,
this new dying</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">brings back yours,
leaving me only this image</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">of you both cheering for lucky winners.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Published in <i>Heart's
Migration</i> (Tia Chucha Press, 2009)</span></div>
<br />Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-58293584769805873222018-04-04T15:18:00.000-05:002018-04-04T15:18:19.152-05:00Poem for Maya Angelou's birthday and National Poetry Month<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOgbW-Y-Crj19Ihyphenhyphen5TxX7QuMA7iSQ_mMfZOl3c4-QQLRb900-BLgXgmzVasdwIeRRmkX6lhxYm_K8reYd-pRPZ3tT8OYaOiN_eX5xDSWh5GiGTZlYGjSxYwCmVQfIC0wMMkQgQ9hnPMoor/s1600/Angelou_at_Clinton_inauguration_%2528cropped_2%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1180" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOgbW-Y-Crj19Ihyphenhyphen5TxX7QuMA7iSQ_mMfZOl3c4-QQLRb900-BLgXgmzVasdwIeRRmkX6lhxYm_K8reYd-pRPZ3tT8OYaOiN_eX5xDSWh5GiGTZlYGjSxYwCmVQfIC0wMMkQgQ9hnPMoor/s320/Angelou_at_Clinton_inauguration_%2528cropped_2%2529.jpg" width="236" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Today would have been the 90th birthday of Maya Angelou, the great feminist poet, essayist, memoirist, and activist. As part of my series of poems posted for #NationalPoetryMonth, I thought I'd post one for her. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">This poem was not necessarily inspired by Angelou and her work, though it very well could have been. It shares many qualities with her work, an optimism, a desire to celebrate women, a belief in the triumph of the human spirit. It was, however, created during the immediate aftermath of having to leave, for medical reasons, a longtime career of running a university women's center and working extremely hard to help women empower themselves.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">One day during this period of adjustment and grieving, as I wrote in my journal about what I missed most about my work, I reminisced about the extraordinary moments when women I had worked with would finally step up and seize their own power and take charge of their lives and their dreams. This poem came out of those memories.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">SHE TAKES HER POWER IN
HER OWN HANDS</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and pours it over her
body,</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">drenching hair and face,</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">standing in pools of
herself,</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">dripping excess. She
takes up her power</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">with strong hands and
holds it close</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to her breasts like an
infant, warming it</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">with her own heat. She
draws her power</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">around her like a
hand-loomed shawl,</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">a cloak to keep the wind
out,</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">pulling it tighter,
tugging and patting it</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">smooth against the
winter.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">She pulls her power from
branches</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of dead trees where it
has hung so long</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">neglected that it has
changed from white to deep</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">weathered gold. She wraps
her hair</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in power like the light
of distant stars,</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">gleaming through the dark
emptiness</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in and around everything.
She lets her power down</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">into a dank well, down
and down,</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">clanking against stone
walls, until</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">she hears the splash, a
little further</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to submerge it
completely, then draws it</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">hand over rubbed-raw
hand, heavy enough</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to make her shoulders and
forearms ache</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and shudder with strain,
pulls it up</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">overflowing, her power,</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and drinks in deep,
desperate gulps
</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">out of a lifetime of
thirst. She weaves her power</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">into a web, a cloth, a
shroud, and hangs it</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">across the night where it
catches the light of stars</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and refracts it into a
shining glory,</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">brighter than the moon</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and colder. She holds her
power</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in her hands at the top
of the hill</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in the top of the tree
where she steps out</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">onto the air and her
wings</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of power buoy her to ride
the thermals</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">higher and higher toward
the sun,</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">her new friend.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When she returns,</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">she folds her power over
and over</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">into a tiny, dense pellet
to swallow,</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">feeling its mass sink to
her center</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and explode, spreading
throughout to transform
</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">her into something
elemental,</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">a star,</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">a mountain,</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">a river,</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">a god.</span></div>
<br /><br />
Published in <i>Heart's Migration</i> (Tia Chucha Press, 2009)Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-55205434875382245932018-04-01T13:27:00.000-05:002018-04-01T13:27:12.543-05:00National Poetry Month Begins on Easter, Passover, and April Fool's Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIYsx-Qk8wCHYzBvxM2xSeKvIpa8EH6KNkfzAT7kknQy_rYI5_UYObgNtBMTkV-wnVDlzjQ7-yFUCB6Nzl_aK9McsDhMA2qqprWCcoiJDXie7oSK09F27d6w6GOAzXoo4F2N5F5yWS9LeQ/s1600/Celtic_cross_draped_for_Easter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="399" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIYsx-Qk8wCHYzBvxM2xSeKvIpa8EH6KNkfzAT7kknQy_rYI5_UYObgNtBMTkV-wnVDlzjQ7-yFUCB6Nzl_aK9McsDhMA2qqprWCcoiJDXie7oSK09F27d6w6GOAzXoo4F2N5F5yWS9LeQ/s200/Celtic_cross_draped_for_Easter.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">April is National Poetry Month, and as usual during this month, I will be posting poems to this blog throughout the month. In 2018, however, the beginning of National Poetry Month is also April Fool's Day, Passover, and Easter, a powerful concoction of influences.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgunPW4gGlvna5CHucxNqxRJ-U04VtkweNuT9sHd5RS8R0WSSuaAanOWm21chuQ_OhJmO1wUEFg1FKZVgcl9pCTvm0xn56Q8gmrTv1ho_nCA7lbpAe6g9vFPD-pYpoIhw13fbOrdUKKqBi1/s1600/Sedertable.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="560" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgunPW4gGlvna5CHucxNqxRJ-U04VtkweNuT9sHd5RS8R0WSSuaAanOWm21chuQ_OhJmO1wUEFg1FKZVgcl9pCTvm0xn56Q8gmrTv1ho_nCA7lbpAe6g9vFPD-pYpoIhw13fbOrdUKKqBi1/s200/Sedertable.jpg" width="149" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">This first poem for National Poetry Month, then, is one that plays with the history of Christianity, Judaism, and the basic concept of the Holy Fool or the fool for God.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<br />
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">LAMENT OF A FAILED
ACOLYTE</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-size: large;">Desperation can come
from having nothing but God to love.</span></i></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large; text-indent: 0.5in;"><i> </i>--Michael Heffernan</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Desperation I’ve a long acquaintance
with.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Desperation and hope</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">have been the twin pillars</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">between which I’ve sailed,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">trying to avoid being eaten alive</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">or sucked in,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">aiming at the narrow gate</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">sometimes called Jesus</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">who’s run me aground on hope.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Unlike despair, hope’s not a sin</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">against the Holy Spirit but only</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">against logic and forty years’
experience</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">wandering in this hungry desert,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">waiting for white wafers of grace
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to descend and bring another presence.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">If I sound mad, it’s no wonder,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in this shaggy, lice-ridden skin</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">with blood of locusts on my tongue.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">My big mistake was asking
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I AM</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in for company.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Avoid divine guests, I say</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">now, drowning in painful, terrifying
love.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">There’s been a mix-up somewhere.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I put in a request for ecstasy,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">not passion.</span></div>
<br /><br />
Published in <i>Heart's Migration</i> (Tia Chucha Press, 2009)<br />
<br />
<br />Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-33924302105501356592017-12-04T12:52:00.002-06:002017-12-04T13:51:50.506-06:00As the Holidays Approach--"How To Be Alone in Love"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjW1dm1SVOhsAU0NJnN_lshu5q0-2CB0NyTOs0-qxhyphenhyphen2MR5j8jQ_MNBDVsuEZhpq7rXjKsHVBFBFWGJ3WQ1YODBOB_S6VDA2-vglM6LXLk2GLD4StxiC9h2lPFVsJs6mgaXdLOzUQvuI9L/s1600/lonely+Xmas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjW1dm1SVOhsAU0NJnN_lshu5q0-2CB0NyTOs0-qxhyphenhyphen2MR5j8jQ_MNBDVsuEZhpq7rXjKsHVBFBFWGJ3WQ1YODBOB_S6VDA2-vglM6LXLk2GLD4StxiC9h2lPFVsJs6mgaXdLOzUQvuI9L/s320/lonely+Xmas.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">As the holidays approach, I know many people will find all the loud, happy preparations and boisterous reminders difficult to bear because they will be missing someone they love because of breakups, divorce, family estrangements, deaths, or simply long distances combined with lack of money and/or time to travel. In addition, the holidays can be especially difficult for people who suffer from depression, even when they are surrounded by other people.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">So for all too many people, these holidays of togetherness and joyous family get-togethers can be extremely lonely. Some people have told me they have found relief and comfort in one particular poem while at their lowest emotional states (in two cases, suicidal), so I'm posting that poem here today for everyone who's facing some sense of loss or loneliness as we approach Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, or Yule.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">NOTE: If you are depressed or have feelings or thoughts of harming yourself, please seek help. You can always call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">HOW TO BE ALONE IN LOVE</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Hold fast, first.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Continue to give,</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">even when no one wants</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">what you offer. The
power, the wonder</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">is in the giving.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Call yourself out of
yourself,</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">shedding old skins.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Stripping bare to organ
and bone,</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">open the heart’s vein</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">and give your blood.
Commit</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">and continue to commit.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">These choices are always
yours.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Be love’s fool.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Become God’s.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">He will understand.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">He too loved
immoderately.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Published in <i>Heart's Migration</i> (Tia Chucha Press, 2009)</span></div>
Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-11803248904478971842017-11-17T10:59:00.000-06:002017-11-17T10:59:32.808-06:00A Poem for Native American Heritage Month--"Grandmother's Basket"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkvd9stBTf6tN81s_LHO7etPko9Xe5kNFw-B87VATYtBvMq8WYzLRAGy8a8r70rburyqVV2MDtAwLb5PBB2LfrYXDGnMYGIk16efDrnmk3m0BxSqJIfxcaurlRJDcXcwU77rEVROSPJSkb/s1600/v+cherokee+basket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="230" data-original-width="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkvd9stBTf6tN81s_LHO7etPko9Xe5kNFw-B87VATYtBvMq8WYzLRAGy8a8r70rburyqVV2MDtAwLb5PBB2LfrYXDGnMYGIk16efDrnmk3m0BxSqJIfxcaurlRJDcXcwU77rEVROSPJSkb/s1600/v+cherokee+basket.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For Native American Heritage Month, here is a poem about my grandmother, who was so influential in my life, even though she died when I was thirteen. Like a lot of families, mine was torn apart by divorce when I was young, and as great as the loss of my father was, I think the loss of his family, my grandmother and aunt, was even more traumatic. These women had been the strong stable base of my childhood while both parents were chaotic children. Once the divorce occurred, I lost that stability and their wisdom, but never their love. Fortunately, as an adult, I could and did seek out my aunt while she was still alive and rebuilt the family connection. Unfortunately, my grandmother was long gone by then.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">GRANDMOTHER’S BASKET</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I loved Grandmother’s baskets when I
was small.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">They had intricate patterns and figures
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">woven into them in brown, black,
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">yellow, red, and orange.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">She had different sizes and shapes,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">used them for storage rather than
display.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">My favorite was in reds and yellows
with a black border.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It looked to me as if woven of fire and
grasses.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I would climb into cupboards, find one,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and ask why she didn’t keep it out on
a tabletop</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">where everyone who came in could admire
it.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“These aren’t the best ones,” she
said</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">as she fingered baskets that looked
beautiful to me.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“We used to make them from rivercane,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">which makes a better basket and dyes
the best,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">but they rounded us up in concentration
camps</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and drove us on a death march to a new
land</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">that didn’t have our old plants like
rivercane</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">so now we use buckbrush and
honeysuckle.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Grandmother shrugged. “You make do.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I asked her to teach me how to make a
basket
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">like the one I loved with feathers of
fire</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">along its steep sides. She shook her
head.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“It’s a lot of hard work.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">First, we need black walnut, blood
root,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">pokeweed, elderberry. Yellow root’s
the best yellow,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">but blood root will have to do.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">They’ve dug all the yellow root</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">for rich people’s medicines, call it
goldenseal.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Got to have our dyestuffs first.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Got to forage for most of them.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It takes lots of trips, out and back,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to get enough to make good colors.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I knew I could do that and said so.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">She laughed. “You’ve got to know
what to pick</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">or dig or gather. It’s like with my
medicines.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Can’t just go taking any old weed.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I pointed out that I was learning from
her</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">about the Cherokee medicine plants. She
just shook her head.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“It’s not the same. I grow most of
those.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Haven’t taken you out for the wild
ones yet</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">because you’re too little still. Same
for dye plants.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I nagged at her for days, begging her
to teach me</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">so I could have a basket of my own.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I had in mind that amazing
fire-flickering basket.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I wanted to make one just like that.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">My visit was over without her ever
giving in.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I was used to Grandmother’s strength
of will.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I knew I would have to try harder next
time.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">There was no next-time visit.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">My mother had always hated her
mother-in-law.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Now, she won the battle to keep us
away.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Our relationship poured out in letters</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">until my mother destroyed them,
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">refused further correspondence.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Years later, Grandmother wrote me—</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">a letter that slipped past my mother’s
scrutiny—</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">that she was making a basket
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">one last time for me.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I knew she was very ill,
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">soon to die.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I don’t know who got the beautiful
baskets</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8WJ0iiYa91G4Zd6NdiyepslyPPPJfEH7fHeJ0uxNOe8N5kitMIDhCx5yG7DfEsmCWZk1zNLbbUsmOAqJtBhdbzT-_uyp2lQs3Ram9vqWgv5fa0y6q773G9CaxrgM_hgPbcZjISxe91ECK/s1600/vine+basket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="691" data-original-width="520" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8WJ0iiYa91G4Zd6NdiyepslyPPPJfEH7fHeJ0uxNOe8N5kitMIDhCx5yG7DfEsmCWZk1zNLbbUsmOAqJtBhdbzT-_uyp2lQs3Ram9vqWgv5fa0y6q773G9CaxrgM_hgPbcZjISxe91ECK/s320/vine+basket.jpg" width="240" /></span></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">when Grandmother died, especially the
one</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">that I loved when I was small.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Her sister and niece who cared for her</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in her last illness, I suppose.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">That’s fair. My parents had divorced
by then,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and my mother allowed no contact</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">with that family. But</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">a lumpy, brown-paper-bag-wrapped
package</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">with Grandmother’s shaky, spidery
handwriting
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">arrived for me after her death.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">My mother opened it first and laughed.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I stood waiting eagerly to snatch up</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the last thing my grandmother would
ever give me.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“Look at that,” Mother said with
more laughter.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">“That ugly old thing’s supposed to
be a basket,
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I think. She sure lost her knack for
that
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">at the end, didn’t she?”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When I was small and visiting, I knew</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Grandmother already had arthritis</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">in her hands. That’s probably why
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">she wouldn’t teach me to make
baskets—</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">because she didn’t have the dexterity
any longer</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">to make the kind she once had.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I still have that simple handled basket
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">of vines (probably honeysuckle).</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The whole thing is dyed black.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">There are no intricate patterns of
flames</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">or anything else. It’s just solid
black.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I can see her plodding out to gather
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">butternuts for the black dye</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and to pull the honeysuckle vines,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">stripping off the leaves.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I can see her gnarled hands
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">painstakingly weaving under and over,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">no fancy twills or double-woven sides.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Hard enough to shape
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">a shallow but sturdy gathering basket</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">for her long-unseen granddaughter.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">All these years later</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I have my own herb garden
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">where many of her medicine plants grow.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When I gather them to dry for teas and
poultices,</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I use that black vine basket.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I think it will last forever.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Published in <i>Dark Sister</i> (Mammoth Publications,, forthcoming)</div>
Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3051850324215622990.post-12411593352034596652017-11-09T04:21:00.000-06:002017-11-09T04:21:26.163-06:00To a Young Native Artist<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I
had great news yesterday. My next book of poetry, DARK SISTER, which
is dear to my heart but languished unsubmitted while I learned how to
navigate the new world of commercial mystery fiction and then the
bizarre landscape of cancer treatments, will be published in 2018. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Unfortunately, though, something happened that took the edge off that
joy. For the third time in recent months, a gifted Native woman
writer who had been achieving wonderful success was attacked from
within the Native community over identity issues. Identity is a
fraught issue in the Native community, but the crazy thing in each of
these cases was that these women are all documented citizens of their
respective (and different) nations.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We're
all too used to having mainstream American society, especially
publishing, tell us Native writers that we're not “Indian enough,”
because we don't/won't write in the tropes and stereotypes they
expect or think the readers expect from Native writers, because we
“don't look Native” to their eyes (not like Iron Eyes Cody's
great masquerade), because we live in urban areas rather than on
reservations (ignoring the fact that over 70% of Natives live in
urban areas—in large part due to US government policies of the
mid-20th century). There's a special sting, though, when it comes
from our own community.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-top: 0.06in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Success
as a Native writer is not a zero-sum game. When one of us achieves
success, that opens eyes and doors for more of us. We're surrounded
by a mainstream literary community with a few staunch allies, a lot
of often destructive ignorance about us, and a surprising number of
people with knives out when it comes to us and our writing and needs.
We shouldn't be carving up our own and tossing bloody pieces out to
appease them. We should be celebrating and lifting up our own writers
who attain success and supporting each other as we all work toward
greater things for each of us individually and our community as a
whole.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-top: 0.06in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A
few weeks ago, I wrote this poem and posted it on Facebook, and I
think it's relevant to this discussion.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-top: 0.06in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-top: 0.06in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-top: 0.06in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">To
a Young Native Artist</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-top: 0.06in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.06in; margin-top: 0.06in;">
<span style="color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">How
many people made love, or just had sex, and survived,<br />often under
bleakest circumstances,<br />to create your unique spirit and body.<br />How
many women gave birth, suckled,<br />and nurtured babes in violence and
in injury and illness,<br />hoping for a future they would never
see.<br />Every one of us born is a victory<br />against colonialism and
attempted genocide.<br />You are the culmination of all those who
loved<br />in the midst of hate. You are the resistance.<br />You are
hope made flesh.<br />Never let this society dictate what you
create.<br />Your ancestors have given you gifts. Use them.</span></div>
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Linda Rodriguezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.com0