Solace in Rain

Watercolor Ladybug

Solace in Rain

Listen to the rain
it taps on my window 
like a horse's hooves
pounding across a meadow.
It stops when spooked by
a deer or a gust of wind

Listen to the rain
insistent as a beaver's teeth
bringing down an anicnt beech.
I heard that awful chewing once,
the creature heard before seen 
on the banks of Lookout Creek.

Listen to the rain
filling up the beaver's abode.
I heard complaints of how that beaver
had taken down Japanese maples
and other carefully selected landscaping. 
Beaver was promoting native plants. 

From a Distance

From a distance, the earth is still green.
Blue oceans bound the continents.
Whaless plumb the depths for food
and dolphins cavort among the waves. 

From a distance, no coral reefs have
lost the algae that live within
the cells of polyps. Coral bleaching
is barely discernable from far away.

From a distance the green estuaries
still grow marsh grass and mangroves. 
The decline in productivity is not
so obvious and food remans abundant.

Up close the losses are more obvious. 
We know not to count on continued seafood.

Discovered

A poem for Indigenous America

What does it mean to be “discovered” 
in a “new world” that was old to you?

The 520 languages spoken on Turtle Island 
shall wane. You shall learn new languages 
called Spanish, English, Portuguese, and French.
Destruction of a language is the destruction of culture.

Your children will be taken away to boarding schools 
where they will learn proper speech and prayers.
No more will they wave sacred smoke, 
a message of respect to the four directions.

Your children will learn to wear 
clothing unlike your own. 
Some of you will adhere to native ways 
And become a tourist attraction.

Some will assimilate to the European culture 
which will later be called American. They 
will gain no respect and be deported to territories 
that already have indigenous people. 

Turtle Island will be carved up into districts 
with names like Canada, Mexico, and the US.
You will live in places called Arizona, 
Oklahoma,  Alberta, Quebec, and Sonora.

It means that a mad rush for wealth to send home 
or take home will impoverish both you and 
the perpetrators who believe in manifest destiny. 
They will learn nothing from you or the land.

That’s what it means to be “discovered.”

Publishing that poem was risky, since I am not indigenous. For a genuine indigenous perspective I suggest reading Joy Harjo's book, Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings. Her poetry is also available on YouTube.

Pencil Sketches