Native American

(x = space)

Native American Heritage Day

(26 November 2021)

Hundreds of years

And last year

Too late

And, no, first families

Weren’t always good

With each other

We’re not celebrating

Perfection

We’re hedging against

Annihilation

So much more is needed

Against the situation

Mostly

Whites have caused

Is there hope

On reservations,

The better land having been

Cheated away?

I don’t know—do you?

Real homes for real people

Real lives

Real race

To stand alone

Or add into the melting pot—that’s

Self-determination

Give us a day

But we’ll need tomorrow, too

C L Couch

Six panel high resolution mosaic of the Cygnus region from the Butterfly nebula to the Crescent nebula. 3 hours of integration for each panel from a dark sky location in Spain. Zoom in for details in the various regions.

Photo by Aldebaran S on Unsplash

Fregenal de la Sierra, Spain

an opinion expressed potently
in a White House meeting about
murdered Blacks, the living
marginalized—here’s my response

Black Life Matters

Do I even need to say it
Yes, I do

My best friend was Black
He died too young—
Complications from surgery

What a teacher
And a humorist as well
At least, to me

I am not Black, part
Native American according
To a family historian,
Which is good, though
Looking at me, I doubt
That you could tell

I am not female; I am
The enemy: an older,
White male

I eschewed the ol’-boy
Invitation and have
Often paid the price

Not in my life (though
Maybe there, too)
But in my work
In which I’ve lost the
Favored political place

Maybe each one has
A circle drawn around
From fear and politics

Leaving that (or never
Entering) means that
Protection from the
Core is not available

And some measure of
Persecution too easily
Is acted on

“Loving Engagement”
From a better Black-drawn
Circle of union and
Society change—I don’t
Know if I’ll be let in,
Resembling and, appropriately
(Regrettably), perceived

I’d stay in the back
And write my verse
In which I argue that
All are free

And should be free

That to usurp the job of
God in assessing human
Worth is about as wrong
As this world can get

Black folk (Black discourse
Uses that word; and,
Being from Kentucky, I like
Folk and folks, though I’d
Change the old state-song
Lyrics, too)—Black folk are
Self-determining, of course

I cringe to have to make the
The claim, as all persons,
Being made, are free and
Free to choose

(http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/20/barack-obama-black-lives-matter-meeting?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+USA+-+Version+CB+header&utm_term=157937&subid=16706344&CMP=ema_565)