Chilocco Indian School, Oklahoma, 1922: A disciplinarian says, There is no foolishness, do everything just so… such as keep your room clean, keep yourself clean, and no speaking of your Native language.
For now I can
just whisper
kál’a sáw
the ’óx̣ox̣ox̣
of your hím’ k’up’íp
wrecked at the base
of a century that burns
through my slow blood
/
kiké’t caught
in the blink silúupe
so draw the eyelids
shut & forget the fire
tangled among the branches
of your spine
start where the skin meets
half an autumn
rusting the edge of winter that is
knifing between me & ’iin
you & ’iim ’ee
/
boy have you forgotten us
is not what they are saying
or are they asks another century
how are we remembered
in our choreography
of bones?
/
mouth your birthplace boy
without mouthing off tim’néepe is at the heart
or the heart of the monster
or the grass blood-soaked
from the fresh kill that finally isn’t
your father
& pray héwlekce when your body is given away says the
orphan boy
with lashes licked into his shoulders
forget ’im’íic because they can tear every lip from every
memory
of your mother
/
because you are
torn & because you are
what song fills
your throat
with the color
of carved out tongue
peewsnúut & hi’lakáa’awksa
is what is voiced in the dark
& so what does it mean
asks the boy
/
as the moon
glows mouth open
to the unbearable
taste of ash
blown among the stars
that the boy learned
the ghost’s trail
that milky way
is lit by the dying
brightly echoed
/
c’ewc’éewnim ’ískit
so there had to be breathing
there had to be.
Translations:
kál’a sáw—just in sudden silence
'óx̣ox̣ox̣ —sound of bones and flesh tearing
hím’ k’up’íp—sound of a mouth breaking
kiké’t—blood
silúupe—at or in the eye
’iin—I
’iim ’ee—you (with emphasis)
tim’néepe—at or in the heart, where the mind and felt emotions are housed. Also, the name
of the Nez Perce creation site, Heart of the Monster, located in Kamiah, Idaho.
héwlekce—I disappear
’im’íic—your mom [more intimate] (as opposed to your mother)
peewsnúut—without tongue, or cut tongue, or removed of one’s tongue
hi’lakáa’awksa—he, she, or it is lit all through the night
c’ewc’éewnim ’ískit—the ghost’s trail / the Milky Way