FeatherLeaf Speaks | Pale Face Lied | Chief Joseph’s Bones | Poems by John Kaniecki

FeatherLeaf Speaks
 
By John Kaniecki
The elders sat timid and meek
As FeatherLeaf rose to speak
“Why should I yearn for the stars when I have not learned the pebbles?”
“The still calm peace of the morning and the angry hurricane of evening are both the same wind.”
“Wisdom is not in words alone and can only be proven in the final ending.”
“Our blood was shed for the pale face invaders great wealth but the offender possesses no riches at all.”
“If you are so wise why cannot you see what you really are?”
“I call the stars my friends and the trees my brothers. I have lived more in a moment than you have in your many years.”
“When you were young the old were cruel and foolish. Now that you are old you have forgotten this lesson.”
“Young man I cannot understand you, I will admit to that. Perhaps you see what I am. I too must grow. Please do not be hasty to judge me before my time. But more important follow your dreams no matter what I say or do. You owe this much to yourself.”
“They say you cannot know a man until you walk a mile in his shoes. You cannot walk in my shoes. I walk barefoot.”
“I am a brother to the oppressed. My mind is yellow, my heart is red, my soul is black and my skin is pale.”
 “Do not tell me your story all at once, my people; my heart cannot bare that much sorrow. I will not promise you a happy ending; I do not desire to lie to you. I can only give you my tears and blood.”
“The pale man’s Jesus is the greatest wickedness of Satan. If you doubt this for but a moment not one ray of light of truth is in you. The real Jesus is another matter.”
“It is better to die now and perish bravely for that which we cherish and Love. We shall meet death soon enough, let us do so with a smile on our faces.”
“The biggest mistake we can make is to underestimate the Love of the Creator.”
“The pale man’s words were spoken in the presence of the Wind. The Spirit has heard every utterance. The pale man laughs secure thinking he has cheated us and has escaped justice. He is more foolish then a farmer planting seed in the snow.”
“Do you think He did not know the misery of the world to come that He formed?”
“They cling on hard to prolong their existence but they have never lived.”
“War will never bring peace. One reaps what one sows. If war could bring peace we would have had peace in abundance cause God knows we have had enough war.”
“’Every journey begins with a first step,’ spoke the man thinking he was so wise. ‘What a fool,’ said the Eagle to the Salmon.”
“As my thoughts turn to you, the warm rays of the sun glisten in radiant beauty through the icicle shining vivid colors as the water drips reforming my substance, creating in me something greater and stronger than what I am.”
And finally after all this he spoke and said this,
“Listening with wisdom is better than speaking with wisdom.”
And so of all those who heard,
We dared not utter another word.
Thought’s on Woody’s Legacy
 
By John Kaniecki
 
Well Woody was a hero
Loved by one and all
Well Woody was a hero
Who answered the call
Rhyme in mouth guitar in hand
He traveled many a mile of this land
Woody lived by the words he sung
Tis the way to stay forever young
Pop stars and cosmetic fakes
Have everything cept what it takes
Rubber breasts and modified voice
Make it easy to make my choice
Woodie was a friend to the poor
Understood money but knew Love was more
Giving was the key to being free
A song to share showed his care for everybody
On the box trains, round the hobo’s fire
He was a champion of a man who didn’t tire
Woody’s songs echo from mountain to canyon
True in heart his soul will not depart or abandon
The land he loved and lived for so many years
That he gave his blood, sweat and tears
Somewhere a child turns on MTV
Bored he flicks a channel to another reality
It’s a complicated, sophisticated idiodicy
What the world needs is another Woody Guthrie
Chief Joseph’s Bones
 
By John Kaniecki
I cried out calling for Chief Joseph’s bones
I could not be heard
Not a solitary word
Amongst the lonely cries and bitter moans
Chief Joseph where do you dwell
They have deformed paradise
And concocted a concrete hell
If only they heeded your advice
If they would but listen
The sky would be clear and the blue lakes glisten
We would live off of the bounty of the land
And God’s deepest secrets understand
Instead our heaven is a sickly gray
Waters poisoned the soil spoiled
Who can really say
For what we have laboriously toiled
Chief Joseph your wisdom was profound
Truly Mother Earth none can own
If they had only known
A better world for all we would have found
All the money of every nation, of every style
Is a pile of paper sick and vile
Give me the cool summer breeze
And a life for God to please
I seek not kingdoms with golden thrones
My deepest desire is to find
A brave man gentle and kind
A man who walks no more
Who kept his spirit pure
Chief Joseph’s bones
With the Sioux
 
By John Kaniecki
 
What shall we do
With the Sioux
Educate them
In the people that lied
Christianize them
In the religion of genocide
Let’s hope they understand
So we can steal the rest of their land
Pale Face Lied
 
By John Kaniecki
I hear the buffalo
They come they run
I hear the rumble
I see the buffalo
They come they run
I see Babylon tumble
Crazy Horse he never died
Pale face lied pale face lied
In the spirit world we ride
Pale face lied pale face lied
Their own Lord they crucified
Pale face lied pale face lied
I see a flock of bird
Way up high, in the sky
A wonderful song I heard
Mother Earth cannot die
God speaks a silent word
None can defy
Tecumseh he’s on the way
Pale face lied pale face lied
He’s come here come here to stay
Pale face lied pale face lied
Today this is the red man’s day
Pale face lied pale face lied
I hear a baby cry
At a place called Wounded Knee
I saw an old woman die
In bitter agony
The truth none can deny
We know our history
You will kill our people no more
Pale face lied pale face lied
You will rape Mother Earth no more
Pale face lied pale face lied
You will leave, set sail from shore
Place face lied pale face lied
God is on our side that’s for sure
Pale face lied pale face lied

Fever | Indian | Secondary Fundraisers | Poems by Laura Close

Fever Indian Secondary Fundraisers

 

Fever
About this fever I’m not apathetic.
Carrots might help. I need a credible
Complaint. Is there anyone more careful?
He tries to make me upset. Optimistic,
he tries at what he is about. Memento
and relic, a reminder of plumage
from the great Phoenix, our advantage
merely an investment of time. Ratio
between kin to kind. I do not exclaim.
There’s a lot more to it than security,
finding the necessary guards, carefree
and built. I have limits, a user name;
our dreams roll around in the subconscious;
and of others’ dreams we become envious

 

Indian
Indistinguishable
Native blood
Touches native blood.
Indian, or Itailienne?
All I ask is for some
Language, to distinguish
And not the loveliness of a culture extinguished.
In the end
Not all believing in Mother Earth and Grandfathers,
Everyone only heard of San Martino
Not all lands, only some.

 

Secondary Fundraisers

“If your old don’t try to change yourself, change your environment.”
~B.F. Skinner
Let’s throw a party to support wildlife. Antennae
headbands will be a requirement. Circles of fine
men and women, environmentalists, will be there.
Clear plastic cups and cutlery made from recycled
materials will inspire us. Eyelashes elongated by
Maybelline, and lids sporting psychedelic, metallic
eye shadow will make all the women look more like
butterflies . Sidling up next to the token CEO, our
prettiest organizer will flash her pearly whites while
holding a glass of champagne demurely.

Shoulder to shoulder, when it is time to dance, we
will step first one direction, then the other, following
the Native American chieftain that we’ve hired for
the occasion. Our decorations must have all to do
endangered species and national parks, etc. Roads
will be a secondary concern for the government.
for a few months. Interpreted signs will be the talk
of the town. Accessories handcrafted by artisans
will be on display or given as party favors. That
will be the party of the year. Older folks will love it.

 

 

Laura Close was awarded the MFA degree in Creative Writing from George Mason University.   She is the author of the manuscript Sound and Sense of Leaves (2010)  and T Party (2012), published by iUniverse.  Her poems have also appeared in Raga Zine and Jerry Jazz Musician.

 

Relaxing Water Flowing and Rushing Water Videos

Relaxing Water Flowing and Rushing Videos

 

Water is a symbol of life.

We are 60-70 % water.

The water that flows was in dinosaurs, and our ancestors.

We should keep the water pure because

our fathers and mothers are flowing by.

We should have gotten off the boat on that rock and said

we have the wood, but teach us about the water.

 

 

Both videos were shot on the Stones River in Tennessee.


 

Videos courtesy of Artvilla.com

 

Wishing to Un-See | Planted | In a Theater | Audible Patience | Tightwire | Poems Valentina Cano

tightwire Poems Valentina Cano

 

 

Wishing to Un-See

The worst image in the world

seared into flesh.

It spreads like boiling oil down my skull,

to my eyes,

to my nose,

filling it with the stink

of old water drowning me

in a pool’s depth of sea.

For R

Your voice is like the cracking of glass,

like a silver key,

like sun on a patch of ice.

It is a knife,

all edges and light,

and I could let the roughest part

of my skin become a wetting stone.

Planted

It is smiling on a wooden floor,

slipping into it like warm water,

feet bucking and splintering,

mixing with the glue.

Rooting me down

into an upright, silent scream.

In a Theater

Her hand is pressed to your cheek

and the light dims around it.

A black hole in reverse.

Your skin prickles,

each follicle rising up to meet her.

And then it is just you,

rising out of the darkness

like a fog.

Audible Patience

She hums,

patient as an oyster forming her pearl.

A sibilant breath,

a sound carried and rolled

by her hands.

She waits for him

to wade by and pick her out.

Tight Wire

The balancing act between

a thought and its burning action

happens on a blade of grass.

I stand on it,

toes ragged like a skirt’s hem,

and try to ease a result out of you

without losing my panting center of gravity.

The Good Word

I am a peddler of doubt.

Spreading its word like seeds,

hanging its glittering ifs like ornaments

on days of the most neutral colors.

Him

He is drenched in light

from nowhere I can see.

The room flickers on and off

like a warped television

until all I see

is his imprint lodged

like a splinter in my eye.

 

 

 

 

Valentina Cano is a student of classical singing who spends whatever free time either writing or reading. Her works have appeared in Exercise Bowler, Blinking Cursor, Theory Train, Cartier Street Press, Berg Gasse 19, Precious Metals, A Handful of Dust, The Scarlet Sound, The Adroit Journal, Perceptions Literary Magazine, Welcome to Wherever, The Corner Club Press, Death Rattle, Danse Macabre, Subliminal Interiors, Generations Literary Journal, A Narrow Fellow, Super Poetry Highway, Stream Press, Stone Telling, Popshot, Golden Sparrow Literary Review, Rem Magazine, Structo, The 22 Magazine, The Black Fox Literary Magazine, Niteblade, Tuck Magazine, Ontologica, Congruent Spaces Magazine, Pipe Dream, Decades Review, Anatomy, Lowestof Chronicle, Muddy River Poetry Review, Lady Ink Magazine, Spark Anthology, Awaken Consciousness Magazine, Vine Leaves Literary Magazine, Avalon Literary Review, Caduceus,White Masquerade Anthology and Perhaps I’m Wrong About the World. Her poetry has been nominated for Best of the Web and the Pushcart Prize.You can find her here: http://carabosseslibrary.blogspot.com  Google +

Earth and Water Poem

water poem

 

Searches related to earth and water poem

famous water poem

water poem by emerson

water love

water pollution

water cycle

water conservation

water poem in marathi

water poem by robert lowell

Wash me

cleanse me

I drink you

I am seventy percent you

I am water

I am earth

searches related to earth

searches related to water

The wave rushes to the shore

then retreats to warn the next wave that

advance and retreat are futile

and the earth

the earth

the earth and water poem

hits the shore

the seemingly meaningless shore

………….by david michael jackson 2014

Guns Shows and Race Wars

Guns Shows and Race Wars

 

Are we preparing?
Are whites arming for war?
Where can blacks buy guns?
Is non violent protest no longer valid?
Are we cleansed of our grandfather’s sins?
Are we suddenly cleansed of his racism so as to say
I am not a racist,
I have nothing to work on
I feel that all people are equal.
Should I grab you by the shoulder or arm
when I say that?

The Dixie Knife and Gun Show

BY STAN GOFF

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