The challenge today is to write using futurism and onomatopoeia in expressing our anger about what we want changed in the world. The main idea is to use tyopography and expletives for interest and emphasis...a bit difficult for me.
painting by Charles M. Russell
At dawn, a warble
or cock-a-doodle-doo
The screech of a night owl,
a whoo-whooo...
Nightly thumpety-thumps
of coyote or deer stealing nearby,
splish-splashes of men fishing,
soft whispers between women working
For hundreds of years the indigenous
knew nature's sounds
Smoke signals reigned as mass media
Life was hard but peaceful -
before the bitter, bloody battles
when the white man came to town,
before the murder of Sitting Bull,
before progress and
the Dakota Access Pipeline
Escalating winds
carried echoes of angry men
Standing Rock Sioux filed law suits
"Freedom means safe water,
keeping our sacred land!"
"Halt this building of the pipeline!!
..they proclaimed,
Promises broken,
sacred land desecrated,
not to mention more land and gold
taken from "them thar Black Hills!!"
and building a daunting dam where
once were only sharp chicken scratches
and ancient petriglifs
"This stinks!!" locals yelled
Everyday life now,
interrupted by out-of-towners -
the clip-clop of horse's hooves,
the crunching of boots in dirt and rocks
silenced by traffic tie-ups, "HONK, HONK!!"
Police came from out of state;
helicopters whirred in
"They keep upping the ante!"
exclaim the supporting tribes
Tensions mount on both sides
It's not just the fish sizzling in the pan!
Fake photos and lies posted on social media;
"It's a dog and pony show!!"
Phffffst - pepper spray and ZING -
painful tazers
"There's going to be a battle!!"
Jesse says:
"It's environmental racism
at it's worst!"
"Little time to react if there is a leak,"
say the Sioux
Preserving their history
has been scissored and ground between
millstones of greed and corruption,
The Sioux are not on the warpath
(stereotypical bullshit) yet,
but it could come to that -
only by standing up for their right
to clean, safe water
Indeed it can come to that... what a great war cry, what a fist in the air to protest... and only for what should be obvious... clean water.
ReplyDeleteI do love the passion that runs through this poem especially "Escalating winds carried echoes of angry men. Standing Rock Sioux filed law suits "Freedom means safe water, keeping our sacred land!"
ReplyDeleteCertainly a righteous anger in terms of Native American rights; a futurist rant for sure--unlike your other recent pieces; that's what is so cool about hanging around the Pub-we all get to stretch our poetic muscles & writing horizons. It has been a few years since the media gave a rip abut Indian's plight.
ReplyDelete"Life was hard but peaceful "
ReplyDeleteI think this is not accurate. Life now is more peaceful than in the past. The indigenous people were very murderous.
True; this is a given, understood from the beginning. Perhaps it is semantics at issue. Choosing a word like 'simple', 'basic' or close to nature'would be better considering the length of poem & complexity of topic.Nonetheless, the controversy/debate is important to accuracy. Thank you, Sabio
ReplyDeleteA wonderfully strident poem, Kathy, with great use of onomatopoeia to convey the war cries and anger.
ReplyDeleteYou captured the scenes, characters and sounds of this confrontation and sad consequences of poisoning our earth and native heritage Kathy ~ This is actually very much the issue up here in Canada and the native communities are still feeling the effects of the broken promises.
ReplyDeleteThe unholy trifecta of corporate greed, law enforcement zealots and media indifference. The same story over and over again.
ReplyDeleteSo sad that he'd has destroyed access to clean water for so many...even in the so-called "civilized" nations.
ReplyDeleteWhat a passionate, energized poem. If this is Futurism poetry, I like it. Human, not robot. Jane
ReplyDeleteI think my favorite moment in this passionate, moving poem is "Smoke signals reigned as mass media"...
ReplyDeleteAn awesome write. I like the brave who said "We're doing this for you, too"....and for the riot squads who also need clean water to drink. The ignorance and folly of chasing oil money over the need for clean drinking water leaves me speechless, truly.One day water will cost more and be more vakluable than oil. But only after much of it is gone. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteonly by standing up for their right
ReplyDeleteto clean, safe water
Good closing Kathy! It sums it all up. Lots of injustice had been thrown at the displaced and side-lined communities. But when it comes to basic needs against the greed of corporate giants money wins. They can 'move mountains'with big money!
Hank
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