"arapaho" poems
for Thomas Raine Crowe
...These nights bring dreams of Cherokee shamans
whose names are bright verbs and impacted dark nouns,
whose memories are indictments of my pallid flesh...
and I hear, as from a great distance,
the cries tortured from their guileless lips, proclaiming
the nature of my mutation.
NOTE: My “mutation” is that my family appears to contain English, Scottish, German and Cherokee blood, meaning that my ancestors were probably at war with each other. Did my English ancestors force my Cherokee ancestors to walk the Trail of Tears?
I have recently created these new translations of Native American poems, proverbs and sayings ...
What is life?
The flash of a firefly.
The breath of a winter buffalo.
The shadow scooting across the grass that vanishes with sunset.
—Blackfoot saying, translation by Michael R. Burch
Speak less thunder, wield more lightning. — Apache proverb, translation by Michael R. Burch
The more we wonder, the more we understand. — Arapaho proverb, translation by Michael R. Burch
Adults talk, children whine. — Blackfoot proverb, translation by Michael R. Burch
Don’t be afraid to cry: it will lessen your sorrow. — Hopi proverb
One foot in the boat, one foot in the canoe, and you end up in the river. — Tuscarora proverb, translation by Michael R. Burch
Our enemy's weakness increases our strength. — Cherokee proverb, translation by Michael R. Burch
We will be remembered tomorrow by the tracks we leave today. — Dakota proverb, translation by Michael R. Burch
No sound's as eloquent as a rattlesnake's tail. — Navajo saying, translation by Michael R. Burch
The heart is our first teacher. — Cheyenne proverb, translation by Michael R. Burch
Dreams beget success. — Maricopa proverb, translation by Michael R. Burch
Knowledge interprets the past, wisdom foresees the future. — Lumbee proverb, translation by Michael R. Burch
The troublemaker's way is thorny. — Umpqua proverb, translation by Michael R. Burch
Feb 22, 2020
Feb 22, 2020 at 6:33 AM UTC
Arapaho Bride, Chieftains Dearest.
Early Fortnight, Gros Ventre Headdress.
Indian Jubilee, Kindred Lavishment.
Mornings Noontide Oluksak Pulls Quiet River Streams, Terrapins.
Unabated Vas deferens Wedding Xyris Young-begetting, Zea mays rugosa.
Sep 17, 2012
Sep 17, 2012 at 10:28 AM UTC
gets up from chair, and breathes in deeply
people are made up of so many things, it's amazing
1. Oxygen
2. Carbon
3. Hydrogen
4. Nitrogen
5. Calcium
6. Phosphorus
7. Potassium
8. Sulfur
9. Sodium
10. Magnesium
i guess paying attention in biology did pay off
i remember when i was 11 years old my brother showed me a movie clip where Charlie Chaplin spoke in-front of tons of people
he said "we think too much and feel too little".... i finally understand
and if you feel sad, i hope you can find a therapist, or i hope you can afford a 12 pack of beer at the liquor store to ease what you feel right then
walks out the house
looks around and smiles
i found hope on the corner of arapaho and shiloh, it was 7:32 pm, i remember because i texted myself saying "dude you're finally happy"
no more desires of being dead ever came to mind
i found out what a man i can be if i pushed myself and loved without regretting, without being scared of falling for things for the wrong reasons
i found out to learn everything and grasp whatever came my way even if it brought me to my knees
i'm going to die fulfilled
i feel like rhyming, sorry, i'm not a good rhymer, but here i go....
garden of green leaves
glistening tress
scented hives, buzzing bees
we lie under shaded trees
we pray to who we're afraid to deceive
if we do, we rot even if we pleaded on our knees
summer breeze, ******* and THC
don't leave
addictions are hard to let go when i love you like grinded holy mary ****
i'm not a good rhymer, i think the song that goes like "versace versace versace versace versace"
was better than what i just w. r. o. t. e.
haha.
it's getting dark, i need to go to sleep
turns off light
Apr 23, 2014
Apr 23, 2014 at 11:25 PM UTC
He put hummingbirds in his bride’s hair
With fine vines he tied them there
To fan her skin in hot summer air
With cactus flowers to provide nectar
She wore soft beaded deer skin clothes
And slept beneath the finest buffalo robes
A warm fire she built to keep out the cold
His beautiful wife would stoke his coals
On a cold winter night she bore him a son
Both woman and child never saw the sun
His people cried and beat their drums
Singing songs of sorrow and loss of the young
Across the snowy plains now fast he rides
His strongest pony never breaking stride
He travels to the place where the gods’ reside
To join them on their journey to the other side
r 15 Nov 2013
Nov 15, 2013
Nov 15, 2013 at 2:27 PM UTC
I drove across the country.
I've seen landmarks and monuments
laid out before me
in every passing state.
I've seen the Arapaho National Forest
with the Colorado River
running between its canyons.
I've seen the arches of Utah,
and the dinosaur tracks
left behind in the Red Cliffs.
I have traveled
over three thousand miles
from east to west,
and I have not seen it all.
It is often forgotten
how truly massive this country is.
It seems so small
from the comfort
of our little lives
in separate states.
It is far from small.
It is an enormous chunk of land.
It stretches for days on end,
and every part of it
is breathtakingly beautiful.
This country has left its
mark on my heart.
I will never forget
this experience.
I will never forget
what this road has taught me.
I may be going home,
but I am not returning
the same as I was.
I have seen too much.
I have seen more than
I ever could have
in my tiny New York town.
This trip has ignited
a fire within my soul.
I will see what the rest
of this world has to offer.
I will chase the setting sun,
and move until
the stars fall behind me.
I may be going home,
but the flame within my soul
will light my way
to my next adventure.
I've tasted freedom,
I'm never going back.
Mar 30, 2017
Mar 30, 2017 at 4:58 PM UTC
A purple veil enveloped the peaks and ridges
along the mystical divide
where snowpack and summer rains
chart opposite courses toward distant seas.
Born of the ancient heave and shudder
of oceanic and continental plates,
the Rockies transfix our wondering eyes
by the spell of their arcane mysteries.
So it has been for those who carved our trails
and called their mountians by name:
Arapaho - hoh'enii
Hopi - tuukwe
Ute – Kåib
All of these good fellow journey folk
have listened to the same timeless airs
chanted by murmuring streams and cataracts
and seen hope reflected in an alpine lake.
We have heard the soaring calls of the Rockies
on either side of the great divide
We have heard the mountains’ healing presence
softly whispering us to our homes.
Jul 28, 2020
Jul 28, 2020 at 9:10 PM UTC
A mist, but not of memories or ghosts,
And not a silent mist - a noisy one
Drifts darkly over this altar to the past
The docent pauses for each motor home
Gear-growling up the unexpected slope
Along the road from that point to this one
Well-paved and posted: fifteen miles per hour
For cell-‘phone shots where each historic death
Is marked with stones among the sunlit grass
The docent speaks of her peoples: Cheyenne,
Arapaho, Sioux, and soldier boys blue
With frequent and reflective pauses as
A Winnebago circles Last Stand Hill
Apr 13, 2019
Apr 13, 2019 at 4:06 PM UTC
Messianic Don found tarnished appeal
trumpeted bluster thwarted
with muted (hip hip hooray) Democratic zeal
played (on microscale) like quashed
ill fated braggadocio big deal
bombast, sans General George Armstrong
Custer's last stand,
viz Little Bighorn, achilles heel,
where Native Americans
showed deadly steel
against cocksure doodling
haughtiness didst conceal
Yankee sited in cross hairs,
who got comeuppance,
whence his notorious
reputation did never heal,
thus markedly high light
ting (albeit in deadly fashion) might
whooped, undermined, and
served just desserts,
when forces of the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne,
and Arapaho tribes did unite
defending their turf against
7th Cavalry Regiment of the
United States, mauled as ****** sight,
which justified comeuppance,
and whipped up white
settlers fury like an inferno doth ignite
combustible material showing
no mercy toward "red men"
unleashing brutal, short
and nasty genocidal spite
long a tragic footnote in history
proves tummy at hefty price
that present swaggering presidential chieftain
more'n halfway thru administration thrice
occasions brought third "shut down"
(the first time in more than 40 years)
during his opprobrious term,
now got meted "no dice"
cuz commander in chief usurped, provoked,
and kickstarted retaliatory actions, I.C.E.
suspect, where staunch stonewalling tactics
unexpectedly found paunchy big boy lice
sensed to shame, name and blame Congress
i.e. as he ****** forward power,
and hood did launch
bully tactics doth evince,
how he does not play "nice"
demanding five billion dollars for
pet project wall barring Mexicans
(and other asylum seekers south
of the border) did not entice
unanimous concurrence thus sets device
sieve ness roundly shows
Trump doth need strong cussed hard advice!
Dec 22, 2018
Dec 22, 2018 at 2:34 PM UTC