08-17-2021
Chrystos
Going Into Prison
the guard growls, What's this?!
Poetry, I answer, just Poetry
He waves me through
with a yawn
that delights me
So I smuggle my words in
to the women
who bite them chewing starving
I'm honored to serve them
bring color music feelings
into that soul death
Smiling as I weep
for Poetry who has such a bad reputation
She's boring, unneccesary, incomprhensible
obscure, effete
The perfect weapon
for this sneaky old war-horse
to make a rich repast of revolution
What Kills Me
is forcing myself to kill
the love I can feel for others
All the assassinations stare at me
with pitiful mouths
I cough despair
It's a long trail of blood
back to the moment
when survival meant
these icy knives
I know how to draw
so well
across the dirt
A Valentine
to the heron huddled in cold rain
whose soft dark ash gray shape
with head tucked
opened my heart
like lace
-from Fire Power (Press Gang Pub, October 1, 1995), selected by Fall 2021 Guest Editor, CMarie Fuhrman
Chrystos (born November 7, 1946, as Christina Smith) is a Menominee writer and two-spirit activist who has published various books and poems that explore indigenous Americans's civil rights, social justice, and feminism. Chrystos is also a lecturer, writing teacher and fine-artist.
04-13-2021
Victoria Chang