THE ART OF WRITING
i am graffiti​
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
​
​
i am writing to tell you
that yes, indeed,
we have noticed
you have a new big pink eraser
we are well aware
you are trying to use it.
erasing indians is a good idea
of course
the bleeding-heart liberals
and communists
can stop feeling bad
for the stealing
and raping
and murdering
and we can all move on
we can be reconciled
except, i am graffiti.
except, mistakes were made.
she painted three white Xs
on the wall of the grocery store.
one. two. three.
then they were erased.
except, i am graffiti.
except, mistakes were made.
the Xs were made out of milk
because they took our food.
one. two. three.
then we were erased.
except, i am graffiti.
except, mistakes were made.
we are the singing remnants
left over after
the bomb went off in slow motion
over a century instead of a fractionated second
it’s too much to process, so we make things instead
we are the singing remnants
left over after
the costumes have been made
collected up
put in a plastic bag, full of intentions
for another time
another project.
except, i am graffiti.
and mistakes were made.
NO EYES
Treviño Brings Plenty
​
1.
My grandfather had his eyes stolen.
He said they were
In the Smithsonian museum.
The last image he saw
was a blond haired woman
bending over him.
He was newly back from Japan,
he was still wearing his W.W. II uniform.
He said it wasn’t a good thing,
but he was sadly satisfied his eyes
were set next to his grandparents’ bones.
​
2.
My grandfather was a brakeman
in his late teens.
When he lost his left pinkie finger,
he quit and joined the army.
“There were a lot of Indians
in the army,” he said.
“We were seen as American heroes
when we wore our uniforms.”
He said,
“Know this grandson,
the people were not all warriors.
My cousin was a painter and storyteller,
my brother was a fisherman,
my sister tamed horses,
everyone ate food, breathed air, drank water.
This is the family lineage.”
My grandfather rolled a cigarette.
He was wearing sunglasses.
It was evening just before supper.
“Every man wants to huff and puff
their warriorness,” he said.
“But the real work is peace.”
​
Joshua Whitehead
This poem is an excerpt of a longer poem.
Joshua Whitehead, "Full Metal Oji-Cree" from full-metal indigiqueer.
Copyright © 2017 by Talonbooks.
​
this is the transsensorium
there are indo-robo-women fighting cowboys on the frontier
& winning finally
the premodern is a foundation for the postmodern
wintermute, tessier-ashpool, armitage
theyve revived us via neuromancy
but i am the necromancer
when i tell my mother i need kin
she sends me ten
weve all been subjected to zombie imperialism
dying in the sprawl of night city wpg
your world feels ontological
because it is the nexus of adaptation & appropriation
old abelardlindsay|abrahamlincoln told me
that i was too loyal to my gene-line
that the point is that “we” live
i tell him there is no “i” in that “we”
— never was
theres no room for white superiority in indigeneity
we were surviving
we are surviving
ive nullified your terra myths
i am more than props & backdrops
i am terræ filius
u: neocolumbus
i am terra full[ofus]
(do ndns in space become settlers too[questionmark])
now is our time
to show off our copper skin, shimmer
free-fall headdress & robomoccasins
this pink & white gridwork is my technobeadwork
our (ab)use value has increased
i am the punk in amer[in]cyber[dian]
the posthuman is innately ndn
when novelty is horrific
i tell you: this is the extraterrarium
were not mothers, were police
the prehuman becomes the precursor to (rez)urrect
the posthuman in the transhuman
so fuck you
well survive this too
like the cat ive nine times to die
like the woman i ask:
how can you live so large
& leave so little for the rest of us[questionmark]
ive outlived colonial virology
slayed zombie imperialism
us ndns sure are some bad ass biopunks
wearesurvivingthrivingdyingtogetitright
WRITERS:
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Sherman Alexi
-
Marie Annharte Baker
-
Treviño Brings Plenty
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Heid E. Erdrich
-
Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas
RESOURCES:
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POETRY IN VOICE: search poems or poets by name, title, genre...Plus poetry competitions & lesson
-
WORLD POETRY MOVEMENT: search by topichttps://www.wpm2011.org/node/564
-
MOVING POETRY: video & poetry collaborations
​
LEANNE BETASAMOSAKE SIMPSON
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson is a poet, spoken word artist, musician, academic, and activist. She’s written three books, including a book of short stories called Islands of Decolonial Love. In 2014, she received the RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award for her non-fiction. She is of Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg ancestry and a member of Alderville First Nation.
​
TREVINO BRINGS PLENTY
Treviño Brings Plenty was born in Eagle Butte, Cheyenne River Reservation, USA, in 1976. He belongs to the Lakota Nation.
He is a poet, songwriter, singer and guitarist. In his works he describes urban Indian life and explores the identity of the American Indians in the American Culture and how through genealogical history have affected indigenous peoples in the 21st century. Some of his published books are: Real Indian Junk Jewelry, 2012; Shedding Skins: Four Sioux Poets, 2008.
​
​
Heid E. Erdich
Heid E. Erdrich is Ojibwe enrolled at Turtle Mountain. She is an author of eight books of poetry and prose and is an interdisciplinary artist. Her poemeos (poem films and videos) created in collaboration with Elizabeth Day, Jonathan Thunder and Trevino Brings Plenty, have won Best of Show and Best of Fest awards. Heid has curated dozens of art exhibits focused on Native American artists. In 2016, she was a contributing artist to the Creative City Challenge award-winning public art project Wolf and Moose by Christopher Lutter-Gardella. Heid has collaborated with Rosy Simas Danse since 2016, and she has contributed to works choreographed by Ananya Dance, Zorongo Flamenco Dance Theater, and others. Heid has written plays produced by Pangea World theater. She performs her poetry across the country, sometimes collaborating with musicians, visual artists, and dancers. Her first exhibit as a featured artist is Skew Lines, May 2019, created in a dual residency with Rosy Simas for SooVac gallery in Minneapolis.
​
JOSHUA WHITEHEAD
Joshua Whitehead is an Ojibwe Cree, Two-Spirit storyteller and academic from Peguis First Nation on Treaty 1 territory in Manitoba.
​
Joshua prefers to write about Indigeneity, and more specifically, 2SQ (Two-Spirit, queer Indigeneity).
​
https://www.poetryinvoice.com/poems/poets/joshua-whitehead-0
​
“Lexiconography 1″ is one of a series of poems Heid E. Erdrich has collaborated on with Margaret Noodin. Heid’s original text in English (written with an awareness of Ojibwe language) is translated into Anishinaabemowin and then back into English to reveal tensions between the language as Noodin sees them. The animated poem is not a strict translation of the English. “Lexiconography 1” is available as a FREE downloadable work of art by Meghan Keane at www.broadsidedpress.org
Put Down
By Heid E. Erdrich from the poem series Little Big Bully
​
Kneel or crouch or stoop
low, go low, be humble
in the face of danger or random rage.
Have a life if you must but hidden
from the creature gaze
the saurian, raptor intelligence
that finds you virtually in days
Kneel or crouch or stoop–
pick a clean place, they say,
rock or tree root
where you ask help
not for yourself
Avert your eyes, not
so you do not see
but so you are not seen
You go so low, go under
radar, go to the ground,
go dark, radio silent
Shiver in it the power of it
what he controls he owns
whoever he keeps down
gets him up keeps them low
Kneel or crouch or stoop–
pick a clean place, they say,
rock or tree root
where you ask help
not for yourself
"RED is the tragic story about a young girl named Jaada and her brother Red. They live together in a village on the west coast of Haida Gwaii. One night, pirates sneak into the village! Red calls out the alarm and everyone flees, but Jaada is captured. Years pass, and Red becomes a chief. He begins to search for his sister..."
​
Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas
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