the time they shot the horses

1985
cruel summer
the year they shot the horses
on grandpa's land
the ricochet bounced
through many heads
after that
as we counted the bodies
dead in the pasture
and it must've been like
wounded knee all over
as the blood flowed
down the hill
this was not our war
this was not our kill

only one remained there
after the slaughter
one little pony
standing next to his
dead mother
and i thought of the world
in its predicted metaphor
we beat on these dead things
so much we spoiled
but never in war
unlike the caucasians
instead we just crashed
in our cars

i thought when
when will this world
stop playing
cowboys and indians?
as the wild horses run
in their barbwire fence
in the end
we just know how to break
all things innocent

mother could you have predicted?
father could you have been more vindictive?
and after all the bodies fell
some by cars
others by the alcohol
could anyone have guessed
i would still be standing there
and every winter of every year
i beat on my parent's dead chests
so much
not even the dead can rest

Rest In Peace

Vine Deloria Jr.

1933-2005

eating the dog

you were cruel like that
bone bare
crunching my teeth
with yours
eyes wild like a coyote's
i never dared to match
the gaze
and when you inhaled
your cocaine
like a wolf
you knew the fear in me

the rest of you harboured
like fleas
you made me feal mangy
many times
i tried to bite your hand
and we both wondered
who got the rabies
it was not i
it would never be me

my tribe eats dogs
and in ceremonies
--little puppies
but that's nowhere near
as cruel
as the things you did to me

like how you cut out
my little pink tongue
dog catcher
dream snatcher
because it lapped
for something true
or the way
you blackened my eyes
because they glowed
like yours never could
all because
i was dumb as a bell
loud and clumsy
i never shut up
quick enough

you killed many of my kind
as a child
like a youth in asia
a place where they still
eat dogs
but i am like them
brown and not yet broken in
but like the asians
indians don't pretend
that we kill innocence
like you
best friend
slave master
--white man