Poem of the Week

Thursday, October 11, 2018

a-La-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak

October 11, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is indigenous peoples in honor of Indigenous People’s Day, which was celebrated on October 8.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A poem for Indigenous People’s Day, based on eyewitness accounts and military histories, of the Massacre at Bad-Axe, which occurred Aug. 1-2, 1832:

a-La-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak,

Known to the Whites as Black Hawk,

Crossed back over the Mississippi in 1832

To return to our ancestral village, Saukenuk,

From which we had been driven the year before.

He had hoped for help from the Winnebago,

The Potawatomi, and the British in Canada,

But when he received none, he waved the white flag

And tried to cross back over to Iowa,

He and his 500 warriors, and his 1500 women and children,

To give up our homeland forever.

And I was with him.

The Illinois militia pursued us,

Though we waved the white flag many times

And wished to leave in peace,

And we fought with them along the way

Until we came to the Mississippi,

Near where a tributary called the Bad Axe

Joined the great river.

There was a steamboat on the river

With canons and sharpshooters,

And again we waved the white flag,

And again we were ignored.

The canons and sharpshooters let loose,

Killing many as we tried to cross the river,

Killing many hiding on small islands

And behind fallen trees and swampland

On the river’s banks.

And we fought back, thinking to die with honor

There on the great river

That lay between our home

And the place of our banishment.

Two days we fought them

Until many of us were dead,

And those remaining had nothing more to fire.

I saw the white men taking scalps.

Some cut strips of flesh from our warriors’ backs

To serve as razor strops.

They took 400 women and children prisoner,

Along with the warriors that were left.

No one knows how many warriors, women, and children

Were massacred in the river, on the islands, and on the banks.

One warrior, in pride and grief,

Banged his head against the steamboat’s rail

Until he was dead.

But I, less brave than he,

To my eternal dishonor and shame,

Survived.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/alatai.html. For more poems for Indigenous People’s Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/indigenouspeoplesdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Indigenous Peoples

10/8: Indians Are, of Course, Not Indians

10/9: We Have Become an Endangered Species

10/10: Indians? Just Get a Few

10/11: a-La-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Indians? Just Get a Few

October 10, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is indigenous peoples in honor of Indigenous People’s Day, which was celebrated on October 8.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A poem for Indigenous People’s Day about how many indigenous tribes lost their land to speculators:

Indians? Just get a few

Drunk and have them sign the thing.

Any Indians will do,

Though of the right tribe. Then you

Take it to court, to me, and bring

The Indians, just a few --

Chiefs this time, if you can -- to view

The words that will their wandering.

Though any Indians will do.

Then some pleas I’ll get you through

Before we turn to exiling

The Indians, just a few

I’ll quickly rule against, then cue

The troops to start the harrowing.

Any Indians will do,

Until they get the message. You

Can start to buy up land by spring.

So get some Indians -- just a few.

Any Indians will do.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/india3.html. For more poems for Indigenous People’s Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/indigenouspeoplesdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Indigenous Peoples

10/8: Indians Are, of Course, Not Indians

10/9: We Have Become an Endangered Species

10/10: Indians? Just Get a Few

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

We Have Become an Endangered Species

October 9, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is indigenous peoples in honor of Indigenous People’s Day, which was celebrated on October 8.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A poem for Indigenous People’s Day about Native Americans as an endangered species:

We have become an endangered species

Dying for lack of habitat,

Like lions, like bison, like elephants, wolves,

Restricted to government reservations.

Dying for lack of habitat,

Many have turned from our ancestors’ ways.

Restricted to government reservations,

We cannot travel the road of the seasons.

Many have turned from our ancestors’ ways

And the land that we sprang from like acorns, like berries.

We cannot travel the road of the seasons,

Cut off from its bounty by barbed-wire fences.

The land that we sprang from like acorns, like berries,

Like lions, like bison, like elephants, wolves,

Cut off from its bounty by barbed-wire fences,

We have become an endangered species.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/wehave.html. For more poems for Indigenous People’s Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/indigenouspeoplesdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Indigenous Peoples

10/8: Indians Are, of Course, Not Indians

10/9: We Have Become an Endangered Species

Monday, October 8, 2018

Indians Are, of Course, Not Indians

October 8, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is indigenous peoples in honor of Indigenous People’s Day, which is celebrated today, October 8.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A poem for Indigenous People’s Day about the mislabeling of the American indigenous peoples:

Indians are, of course, not Indians.

Nor were they ever Indians.

Denying their identities,

Inventing labels as we please,

Allows, of course, their genocide.

No word is ever innocent.

So names enable fratricide.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/india2.html. For more poems for Indigenous People’s Day, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/indigenouspeoplesdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Indigenous Peoples

10/8: Indians Are, of Course, Not Indians

Saturday, October 6, 2018

Seventy-Nine3

October 7, 2018

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week is age.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com .

A number poem for a seventy-nine year old about reaching old age:

Seventy-nine – My God! – is almost eighty!

Eventually, I guess, one does get old.

Vistas of the past engage the mind,

Elegies for what lies far behind,

Now interspliced with scenes just barely cold,

The long ago concurrent with the lately,

Years and decades onto one screen scrolled.

Now one’s state of being is more stately,

In movement and in contour more confined.

Nor could one differ, were one so inclined,

Embracing life’s decrees as life unfolds.

If you enjoyed this poem, please like, comment on, or share it so that it might be seen and enjoyed by others. To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/.html. For more number poems, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/numberpoems.html .

This week’s theme: Age

10/1: Three

10/2: Eight

10/3: There Is No Moment When One’s Youth Is Over

10/4: Forty-One

10/5: Fifty

10/6: Sixty-One

10/7: Seventy-Nine