Spotted Elk’s Band
each doubting whisper
any thought of deviation
They counter
tug, pull, yank back on course
Don’t forget us!
No more silence!
“Pick up the dying,” artist wrote
but it’s damn clear there’s no need for picking up
hell, they’ve picked themselves up
closed their ranks
achieved their precious consensus
each time any departure beckons for consideration
this damp icy morning just one example
wondering in warm bookshop serenity
bitter black coffee forcing realistic clarity
“…there are other things to do…other poems to write
see, right there, possibilities galore in tidy literary rags”
Temptation sneaks foward
Their counter-attack is nothing sublte
They know precisely where and how to slip through enemy lines
striking with unabashed, devasting cunning in Rosebud with ‘from Stealing Indians’ by John E. Smelcer…..31—boarding school, ghost of dead mother, quick witted, undeterred Indian children on cracked ice saving Indian children in ice water
They knowing that it’s a fast leap
straight to three Cheyenne River Indian Agency girls, 1913, two dead in the snow—
nine year old orphan boy without winter clothes ticket 215–
Comes Home Crawling POW May 1891~
James Red Hawk’s failing lungs failing his resourceful spirit~
Their brilliantly executed strategy
destroys all competition
Nothing else to do until Spotted Elk’s Tiospaye receive their just due
so it’s back on the trek to Wounded Knee, December 29, 1890,
back to the Cheyenne River Indian Agency….
Wounded Knee Grave
Again, because I ‘can’.
Wojcik@2009 see May archive for We Shall Remain Shallow post
om mani padme hum jewel in the lotus wahupa qi prana universal life energy
47whitebuffalo's Blog 