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coyote
Senior Member
since 2001-03-17
Posts 1077


0 posted 2001-03-21 07:25 PM


"Crazy Horse"

In this "Shadow World", all is madness,
My warrior spirit, a broken arm,
Swinging fisted, at the darkness.

Plight of my people, breached promises,
Dim hopes, lit with dying embers,
No time to breath, only time to burn.

At the doors of prison, I question their answers,
But the bars, weaken my words.

"Proud Brothers,
have you become,
mere keepers of a cage?"

Spilled blood, smothers their sins,
As death dreams me, into the "Real World".

Arrayed now in my ghost shirt,
I float astride a "Crazy Horse",
Returned to the land of our grandfathers,
To dance back the buffalo.

"The poet is the priest of the invisible."
Wallace Stevens

© Copyright 2001 coyote - All Rights Reserved
kcsgrandma
Senior Member
since 2000-09-24
Posts 1522
Presque Isle, ME
1 posted 2001-03-22 12:23 PM


I enjoyed the contrast between the "Shadow World" and the "Real World" here. It is not always easy to be sure what is real, is it?

To love another person is to see the face of God.
- Les Miserables

Marilyn

Wesley the Blue
Member
since 1999-09-02
Posts 426
Forest Lake, MN, USA
2 posted 2001-03-22 01:28 AM


there are some pretty powerful images in this one, and a lot of double references. I enjoyed this one. Thanks
Keith

every day is a new day with which we can change the world

coyote
Senior Member
since 2001-03-17
Posts 1077

3 posted 2001-03-22 08:39 AM


This one tries to tell the story of the death of "Crazy Horse", Oglalla Chief who fought Crook, and Custer.
Crazy Horse called ours the "Shadow World", and the "Real World" was what he dreamed himself into. There, everything was bright and seemed to float, and his white pony became wild, almost crazy, thus his name. There, he was invincible, weapons could not harm him, and he was safe from all our evil and its madness.
Thanks Marilyn & Keith for your thoughts.

"The poet is the priest of the invisible."
Wallace Stevens

Trillium
Deputy Moderator 10 ToursDeputy Moderator 10 ToursDeputy Moderator 10 ToursDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Patricius
since 2001-03-09
Posts 12098
Idaho, USA
4 posted 2001-03-22 10:24 PM


Just one of the tragedies in our history of settling this country.

Betty Lou Hebert

coyote
Senior Member
since 2001-03-17
Posts 1077

5 posted 2001-03-22 10:37 PM


Tradgedy and travesty.
While being taken to jail by warriors, turned reservation policemen,
he was stabbed with a bayonet as he struggled to escape.
He was a great man.
Greater than many whom history has acknowledged.

"The poet is the priest of the invisible."
Wallace Stevens

wordancer
Senior Member
since 2000-07-30
Posts 809
VA
6 posted 2001-04-04 09:13 AM


"To dance back the buffalo", stunning line! And the past cannot be changed, but only remembered.

I have really been enjoying your words and your world.

-wordancer

coyote
Senior Member
since 2001-03-17
Posts 1077

7 posted 2001-04-04 06:05 PM


Aye, Wordancer.
The past is gone forever, but if we know the history, the future is ours for the making.
I thank you for takin' the time to read, but moreover, I'm  grateful for your ears that hear.  


"I hate quotes, they suck!"
I.G. Norance

[This message has been edited by coyote (edited 04-04-2001).]

Dopey Dope
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
Moderator
Member Patricius
since 2000-08-30
Posts 11132
San Juan, Puerto Rico
8 posted 2001-04-07 01:41 PM


*dances back the buffalo*
Coyote I realize that when you first came here your style was mainly native american....meaning you wrote a lot about those topics. Very interesting and quite enlightening, to say the least. This poem was great and I especially like the ending of it. I think there's this one mountain in new england called Crazy Horse or something because the shape of the rocks up top look just like him...haha or maybe my dad lied to me.
Anyhow, nice done.

I was born myself, raised myself, and will continue to be myself. The world will just have to adjust.

I'm in love with my shadow
I admire it daily

coyote
Senior Member
since 2001-03-17
Posts 1077

9 posted 2001-04-07 06:44 PM


Thanks again, Javier.
My heart has gone Native, but I'm not.
However, this land where I live, was, is, and forever shall be the People's.
Yet, as much as I have studied their ways, I have realized lately, "I never knew you."
Like other truths, it is a part of my "awakening".
Thanks for reading.  

"I hate quotes, they suck!"
I.G. Norance

Wikket
Member
since 2000-01-29
Posts 340
Santa Clara, CA USA
10 posted 2001-04-09 06:21 PM


Coyote:  Your style is quite interesting.  I grew up in the West and grew up learning of Native Americans and their heritage.  You have a refreshing style which only educates me more.  I long for the day I can return to my western home!  

~~Jamie      

"There are no unlockable doors
There are no one winning the wars
There are no unrightable wrongs or unsinkable songs..."  --Ozzy

coyote
Senior Member
since 2001-03-17
Posts 1077

11 posted 2001-04-09 07:50 PM


Thanks, Wikket.
I've "been around" in my day, but I was born here and my heart knows it.
There are many things in our world that are mystical and unexplained, which we "write off" simply as "silliness" and go on about the "business of the day".
Yet, for the Native Americans it was a large and important part of "the business of their day". As I grow older, I see more and more how those forces have, and are, working in the process of my personal existence and spirtual enlightenment. There is much to be said for the "invisible".
Thank you so much for reading and for your kind comments. I hope you can one day "get back to your roots" and explore that aspect of your life too.  

"I hate quotes, they suck!"
I.G. Norance

Red_Feather
Member
since 2001-01-19
Posts 131
The Vagabond Sea
12 posted 2001-04-10 12:37 PM


I have lived the majority of my life in the Black Hills. In my opinion the grevious wrong done to the natives of this land has never really been acknowledged. It is not just a sad part of our history, it is a sad part of today. I have seen friends so torn by the need to conform to modern American society in order to "succeed" and the want (and pressure) to stay in touch with their roots. Our business at all cost world..at the cost of the world..literally is a complete clash with all native beliefs that i am familiar with. Native cultures were not crushed just once upon a time, they are underfoot always.

One's not half two it's two are halves of one EE Cummings

coyote
Senior Member
since 2001-03-17
Posts 1077

13 posted 2001-04-10 01:43 AM


Thanks for commenting RedFeather.

"The only thing new in the world, is the history we don't know." A timely quote by Harry S. Truman.
Yet, for the Native American cultures of our nation, we have done our best to erase theirs and rewrite ours.
A friend I met recently told me:
"Don't be a friend because your friendship comes out of this "guilt", just be a friend for friendship's sake, and try to help us as a friend would.
I told him I have a voice and I will try.  

"I hate quotes, they suck!"
I.G. Norance

[This message has been edited by coyote (edited 04-10-2001).]

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