Fuck You American Dream

Fuck you American Dream

You are not for everyone

You are only for the greedy beggars

who steel everything

You sleep soundly as children cry from hunger

and while loved and respected Elders

shiver and die in the cold

You are the fantasy

the opiate that the people

can chose to take

and not have to feel the pain

of knowing that we are not free

 

Fuck you American Dream

you are unsustainable

a mirage in the desert of greed

a trophy of celebrity

I do not believe in you

you are not my god

you can not buy my soul

for any price

 

I will walk a path of truth

compassion as my guide

I will only bow

to that which is sacred

to divinity within and without

 

Kira Young © 2009-2012

Reservation Nation

reservation nation

we are all one under the sun of deprivation

deprivation in the name of fantasy

fantasy to escape the reality of spiritual bankruptcy

poverty created by denial

denial created by narcissism

and the sun sets on the american empire

 

reservation nation

where children starve

and parents go hungry to feed their children

where the useless and arrogant are hired on the spot

and hard workers are denied the basic right to earn a living

then told to go get a job that doesn’t exist

 

reservation nation

we hide the dead

to hide the reality of the sick

and deny our responsibility to care for the infirm

we blame the disabled for their disabilities

kick them while they are down

pretend it could never be us

sitting in their wheelchair

 

reservation nation

we ignore our elders

to deny their wisdom

and our responsibility to listen and care

about the many years they have learned

how cycles continue

until we say NO

and the sun sets on the american empire

 

indigenous wisdom comes to the center

as one nation under greed

devours itself

in the name of fiscal health for future children

who inherit a poison planet

run by corporations and elected warlords

 

women’s wisdom comes to the center

as the reservations expand to engulf the very nation

that deemed it necessary to slate for termination

the People who’s lifeways

hold the key to balance

and survival for us all

and the sun has set on the american empire

Kira Young © 2011-2012

The Politics of Exclusion

The children of the poor die bleeding

in the mountains of Afghanistan

exploded into pieces

on fire

in the desert of Iraq

sacrificed on the altar of democracy

yet again

and we still do not enjoy democracy in America

as we once did

when women had a voice

 

Congress tosses about

disaster victims and the civil servents that meet their needs

like a political football

just to be sure that nothing gets done

they worry about the tiny amount of money spent feeding hungry children

and happily sign the checks to pay the massive amounts of money spent

for bombs and guns

to kill the people in foreign lands

who try to defend their homelands

and the ones who killed us here sneak away

while policy creates more enemies

and more children of the poor die

sacrificed on the altar of democracy

yet again

and we still do not enjoy democracy in America

as we once did

when women had a voice

 

indigenous communities say no to oil pipelines through their lands

but big oil builds them anyway

as the President voices approval for the Arab Spring

saying that the People have a right to have their voices heard

Americans demanding to have their voices heard outside his door

are arrested for saying NO

to economic injustice

to the constant distruction

of indigenous land

by big oil

Congress and their corporate sponsors

hundreds lead to thousands

demanding economic justice on Wall Street, then cities around the country and cities around the world,

and they are beaten, pepper sprayed and arrested

for demanding that their voices be heard

and we still do not have democracy in America

as we once did

when women had a voice

Kira Young © 2011-2012

Potawatomi in the Morning

Potawatomi in the Morning

Under the Arbor

We were told we didn’t belong

under the arbor

out of the sun and rain

We were told we are not the same

as them

 

We were spit on and lied to

they asked us to go away

We endured the pointing lips

and sneering faces

of the ones who held themselves apart

 

from their daughters and mothers

from their sisters and wives

they asked their nieces and granddaughters

to step back and behind

away from the heartbeat

away from the center

they told us it was the only right way

 

but the heartbeat called us closer

the drum kept calling us to come

asking us to remember an older way

and our true grandfathers, brothers, husbands, fathers and uncles

invited us closer

they asked us to sit down

 

We were taught that every member

of the family belongs

with stick in hand

and voices heard

connecting through the big drum

 

We were told we didn’t belong

under the arbor

out of the sun and rain

and we know we are not the same

as them

 

We are women called

to sing our prayers in thanks

we answer to no man

and love them all

 

We are part of a sacred web

of life and endless relations

we answer only to our Creator

to our Mother we belong

 

Kira Young ©2009-2012

One the Farm

One the Farm

 

on the farm I look above me

to the canopy of stars

their light swirling through space and time

to meet me

 

directly above me I see

a small and bright star

far away and flickering

blue and white

blue and white

 

Tunkasila

You came to visit me

in my first Inipi

flickering blue and white

blue and white

protecting and providing

my spirit with power

reminding me of

all our many relations

 

my body nourished

by our Mother

the canopy of stars

their light

swirling through space and time

to meet me

 

I sing in thanks

I sing for us all

my each and every relation

 

Kira Young © 2009-2012