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Iktomi In the Language Nest
Iktomi
leaving the language nest
with his
tort law lawyers
and white saviors
pretending
(in wašič’ia)
that it all actually
just-is
libel and slander
ho šiyó,
ištóhmuz wačhi po
(Oh prairie chickens
close your eyes
And dance)
Dream Map of Bde Ota Othunwe
they built the mall of america
like a curse over the convergence
of our dreaming
they carved their brave explorers names
all men
into our mother’s tongue
they spilled their seed
and poisoned the earth to kill the
weeds that grow wherever they made their home
our gardens of eden were uprooted
and driven forever beyond the borders of the state
while colonizers place names like
paradise and rum river
into the cuts of her skin
she is murdered by a whirlwind of papercuts
treaties ratified to remove us from the
very earth we emerged from
now we dream of ancient things
with no tongues or home
but even so
the grandfathers that haunt this body
will still push upriver
dammed as we are
we still return
instinctively
unconsciously
through and beyond the dreams
they have built over ours
i am starving for a scrap of truth
a scavenger of story
gnawing on my father’s bones
his ghost the only memory i have
now I am here to collect the stories
that haunt my body but have no tongue
my father’s ghost
and someone he fought in the ring
his laughter and
bloodstained boxing gloves still sing
soft spoken blue star boy
still wanders
haunts
these streets
the ghosts whisper “have a drink with me” from his flask of dreams
the words were knocked out of his head
above, the stars are singing
below we grieve and feast
his story was knocked from my head
the vessel cracked
thick wine of life poured out in the midnight street
his star will never change
my one and only memory remains
a northern star shining
In the fluorescent light
his hair long and curled as my own
the only thing about him that i know
i cannot help but think this is truly the place where our waters meet
they can build a mall thirty-eight stories tall like a wall around the convergence of our hearts
and still
to the place our dreams are formed
to the water where we were born
we return
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Mark Turcotte (Turtle Mountain Band Anishinaabe) has been an active member of Chicago’s thriving poetry scene for some 30 years, and was just named as the sixth Illinois Poet Laureate. He is the author of four collections, including The Feathered Heart and Exploding Chippewas. His poetry and prose have appeared in national and international journals and magazines, and are included in the first-ever Norton Anthology of Native Nations poetry. He has received awards and recognitions from The Lannan Foundation, the Wisconsin Arts Board, and the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers & Storytellers. His poem, “The Flower On,” was part of the Poetry Society of America’s inaugural Poetry In Motion project, which placed poetry posters on public transportation in cities across the United States. The PoetryUnbound podcast, hosted by Pådraig Ó Tuama, recently featured his prose-poem, “Dear New Blood.” He served as 2008-09 Visiting Native Writer at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe and has since been teaching in the English Department at DePaul University, where he is Distinguished Writer-in-Residence.
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Lamar Renville (they / them) is a Two Spirit descendant of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate. They are a writer, photographer, musician, and language teacher in the Twin Cities area.
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Chris Pappan (Kanza, Lakota) b. 1971
Chris Pappan is an enrolled citizen of the Kaw Nation and honors his Osage and Lakota lineage. His art literally reflects the dominant culture’s distorted perceptions of Native peoples and is based on the Plains Native art tradition known as Ledger Art. A graduate of the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe and a nationally recognized painter and ledger artist, Chris’s work is in numerous museums such as the National Museum of the American Indian (Washington DC), the Tia collection (Santa Fe, New Mexico), and the Speed Museum of Art (Louisville, Kentucky) among many others. Chris is currently a board member and co-founder of the Center for Native Futures, a Native American gallery and studio space in downtown Chicago. He lives and works in Chicago with his wife, Debra Yepa-Pappan, and their daughter, Ji Hae.
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