I Hate My Hair. Jan 22 2016

Jan 22 2016

I Hate My Hair


Child,
Perhaps you are disgruntled
With your body and your parents
I tell you,
Your line has survived
All of history, so far!
War, famine and pestilence
Volcanoes and floods
Hungry crocodiles and packs of wolves
Not all lines survive to the next generation
Not that THAT matters

But you
YOU, child
Are here, now,
Squalling in spite of the odds.

Sidney Barthell 2016

The Medicine of the Chestnut Man. January 5th 2016

The Medicine of the Chestnut Man    Jan 5 2016

I met a man
As old as a tree
His feet were rooted in the paths
Winding to the core of the land
When he spoke
Every word a kernel, every kernel a sheaf
Power of Life and Sacred Meal.

Invisible if I look straight on
He appears when I avert my gaze
He evades my logic
With water and corn

A man like a tree walking
Feet rooted in the heart of the land
Practical medicine man walking
For whom they extend smoke
And peace talking

Where are all your people?
We have been cut down
Laid to the ground
Firewood for the furnaces
Of the kings of the eastern people,
Whose warriors came like locusts in swarms
And spoiled us all away.

I cried and cried
Til he motioned to me
Look up, and see what you can see.

A bull, an eagle, a sheep and a man
Conjured upon these graves
Come with thousands spilling like waves
From clouds, with thunder across the land