Because it is Native American Heritage Month, and because I just so happen to have some work that I think highlights Native Americans, those in Kansas anyway, I wanted to share this with you all today. This is a poem that can be found in the Blue City Poets: Kansas City anthology, the link is below.

It was one of the first poems I wrote about my home, and I was lucky enough to have it printed by a small press in Kansas City who loved it as much as I did. I have another poem in the book, and a pretty fun bio page, so please go check it out on Amazon! You can buy the paperback for $12.99 or the Kindle version for $4.99. (There was a bit of a snafu with the graphic designer when the anthology first came out, and this poem was basically cut in half, but they fixed it!) Anyway, I hope you enjoy my work. Feel free to share this post with others who may also like it.

As for my Native American friends, I just want you to know that I support you. I adore you. I only want to honor you with this work, and my home state of Kansas. Shed light on the fact that many of our places, our honored names, our hallowed grounds, were yours first. Were named after you, to honor you, even though that is not what the white people of Kansas did to you.

And yes, I know horrible things happened there to your people, but honestly the guilt and shame I feel for what my ancestors did to you, can do nothing to help at this point, so I won’t even try. But please know that you have my full support and love regarding whatever is best for you and your tribe, your family, your history, and your life moving forward. I know I have messed up along the way (sorry for all those times I called my friends my “tribe” or I called something my “spirit animal,” ick, but I am learning everyday.)

As always, thanks for the support.

M.

Kansas
 
Your summer days are long
South winds cool, in spite of the heat
Cotton curtains lapping open windows 
Fresh apple pie air 
Skies reflecting rivers reflecting skies
 
We’ve galloped, arms outstretched
Through your waves of wheat
Stripped dandelions from Strawberry Hill
Smeared yellow down our wrists
Whispered your names, recited your song
Apache, Pawnee, Osage
I stand there amazed and I ask as I gaze
If their glory exceeds that of ours
Yes, we’ve perched atop your tallgrass mounds
Wakeeny, Kechi, Osawatomie 
Cradled a honeybee 
Scalped arrowed flint 
Dug limestone with our feet
Where the Wakarusa and the Kaw rivers meet
 
We’ve jogged your streets and avenues
Kissed your patchy pavement  
Miami, Pottawatomie, Dakota
We’ve stood on Cherokee, under the silo 
Looked up to the cosmos
Per aspera ad astra
 
Your sunflowers are resilient
Bursting from the grasslands in great numbers
Following the buffalo
Gazing west, despite boots on their necks
 
Your rows of corn have dulled
Your heritage now lost
Though your lines still show
Wyandotte, Neosho, Topeka
Kaza, Kosa, Kasa, Kaw
 
Kansas