Dakota Homecoming
We are so honored that
you are here, they said.
We know that this is
your homeland, they said.
The admission price
is five dollars, they said.
Here is your button
for the event, they said.
It means so much to us that
you are here, they said.
We want to write
an apology letter, they said.
Tell us what to say.
Copyright © 2018 by Gwen Westerman. Originally published in New Poets of Native Nations (Graywolf Press, 2018). Used with the permission of the poet.
Gwen Westerman
Gwen Nell Westerman is the author of Follow the Blackbirds (Michigan State University Press, 2013), a poetry collection written in Dakota and English. The poet laureate of Minnesota, she is a professor at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and lives in rural Blue Earth County.