...I am from two WORLDS that have never sat for tea.
howdy!
it's Saturday evening/Sunday morning and i'm at home with PENG. we're on our laptops in the living room, sipping beer and jammin' to tunes. :-)
the other day, i uncovered a USB a number of years old. on this device, i discovered a folder of poems i wrote during University. they were pieces written for the late Professor Wilde; an old, crabby professor-on-a-cane. i sensed from the very start of class that i wasn't his favorite student, but i worked my ass off for him. his workshop was one of the best poetry courses i took as an undergrad. he passed away about a year ago and my heart was seriously broken. he was a good man. an amazing published writer whose critiques were extremely vital to my development and admiration of the written form.
so, here is "Kin Lichii'nii" (the Red-House-Clan):
Kin Lichii'nii
I am from two worlds that have never sat for tea -
from a sky of smoky cloud and red sandstone,
into a land of metal and concrete.
I am from sisters caked in mud;
brothers clawed by underbrush,
neighbors dark-skinned and leathery.
I am from exhausted windmills,
broken down,
rusted,
laced in bullet holes.
I am from hands that sought wild onions,
from fingers that picked fallen turquoise.
From tangled hair in wind,
raw ankles in metal,
scarred necks in twine.
I am from mothers used as whores,
from fathers who fought for them,
from blood spilt from them.
I am from beyond barb-wired fences,
behind padlocked doors,
beneath covered earth pits.
From stories of blood-thirsty savages,
blood-thirsty thieves,
blood-thirsty murderers.
I am of roasted mutton and green chilli wraps,
stewed hominy and golden fried bread,
kneel-down bread and blue cornmeal.
I am from two worlds that have never sat for tea -
from skies of smoky-smoky cloud, red-red sandstone;
into lands of steel,
stone.
I am of the Kin Lichii’nii.
~*~
being NAVAJO, a matrilineal society, i belong to my mother's clan "Kin Lichii'nii." and it means my mother's mother was also "Kin Lichii'nii." and my grandmother's mother was also "Kin Lichii'nii." and so on, so on, so on...
one thing about the NAVAJO clan system, the "Kin Lichii'nii" clan would end with me. as for my sister, who has the same clan as i, she has the honor of passing our mother's clan on to her daughters; my 3 nieces will then pass it on to their offspring. when i (if i ever do) find a (NAVAJO) wife, her clan would live on through our children...not my mum's.
~*~
tomorrow, PENG and i might go to Macau (or Hong Kong). i need to get away from the reality of work - so a quick get-away might be in the works...
good tidings!! :-)