CLUMSY OAFS

The author said,

in her people’s wisdom,

that "no native language has

a cognate for “human” as

separate from other beings.”

The NPR interviewer sighed and

became excited by the unity

of all things and the serenity

implied in this strange paradigm.

I’ve read enough of

literature to know we in the

West speak about the conflict

of man versus nature, so I wonder

how that plays out in the Native

American spirit?

Unity. What is that? Kum ba ya?

To honor the soul of the animal

you killed for food, be in love

with the three sisters, be kindred

with the trees, to find fellowship

with the twisted rocks and clear

waters who are your home?

How smooth and easy

in contrast to the white man’s

distinct ability to become a

dissonant trumpet, out of tune,

crippled, always able to find

a way to get it wrong.

Like all the noise we make as we

carry “diversity” like a spear

because we need our wars and

search for a reason to kill that guy

who isn’t us, to bulldoze the

land we are required to tame.

It is who we are.

We see beauty, but cannot walk in it

with our unentangled souls. Yes,

we can take its picture, even paint it

to hang on our sterile walls, but only if

the colors match the furniture.

Reviews

[Buddhistboy73]

A deeply honest and heartfelt poem about the nature of man here....

I liked the reference to the native American spirit.....those guys sure are wiser than many of us ignorant and greedy Westerners....!

These were my favourite lines:

We see beauty, but cannot walk in it
with our unentangled souls. Yes,
we can take its picture, even paint it
to hang on our sterile walls, but only if
the colors match the furniture.

Thanks for sharing...

BB73

[Vol]

Thanks, man!
NPR has its moments... But they should leave opinion and politics alone. Everything else they do is beautiful and amazing... If they had listened to me, they might have kept their funding.

[carl]

"ye shall have dominion..." tread down, subjugate??, ...or care for, be stewards care for ?? we see ourselves as masters instead of stewards or caretakers. And then we apply that same wrong logic when we learn of "self" encounter "other" fail to realizing we are "same." - I am always made to think when I read your work. - The final verse is quite nicely put. - carl

[Vol]

Carl,
Sir, thank you! That's high praise indeed! Scripturally, we will always fail if for no other reason than that we are weak, and the problems we have either inherited or made are too big for our withered hearts. I hope the signs of our awakening are real... I know they are far greater than the "boils" popping up in certain blue areas, it's just that the cameras and commentators won't show us...
Vol

[Vol]

Oh, and Stewards... a failure beyond all others because taking care of the land is taking care of ourselves, and we do neither. When we take "dominion," we enhance, and beautify... would that we had... EVER. Sty wardens, the stewards, the Stuart Kings... I love words...
Vol

[redd Brick Keshner]

Entanglements are what makes many lives these days. Enmeshed, even🕊️🙏🏻

[Vol]

Wallowed together in the same brown mud....

[redd Brick Keshner]

Aye, I hear that Vol🕊️🙏🏻

[W. Barrett Munn]

Terrific ending. Kind of a James Wright Duffy’s farm vibe to it.

[Vol]

Winston,
Thank you, kind sir! I just love obscure references... now I have to go find out who the hell James Wright Duffy might be, and I hope his farm is as bucolic (sounds like a respiratory disease) as my imagination wants to make it.
Ah, it is, right down to the floating chicken hawk...
Vol