Sing Our Rivers Red | Teen Ink

Sing Our Rivers Red MAG

May 1, 2017
By MarkRuff SILVER, Allen, South Dakota
MarkRuff SILVER, Allen, South Dakota
5 articles 3 photos 14 comments

Favorite Quote:
"In order for this system to work, they have to mine our minds to get at the essence of our spirit. This is the pollution, and it's a disease, and it lives and travels through the mind, through the generations." -John Trudell


Her bones droop like empty FEMA trailers
Hollow on the inside
Drifting between KILI and 93.1
I find myself lost in the AM frequencies
Thinking of where you’ve been
Thinking of the monsters
Clawing at your jaw
Ghosts of trauma and chaos
Stained into your bones
Your children only ever knew
The concept of love to be a synonym
Of mother
I learn your funeral will be the day
after a pow-wow
After they sweep away the beat of drums
And feet have been wrapped in beaded deer skin
After the walls forget the jingle of tobacco cans
They will wheel you in on your bed
Of forgotten dreams
And sing songs until
The rivers under their eyes turn red


The author's comments:

I am Oglala Lakota from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Native women and LGBTQIA2 have the highest rates of going missing or ending up murdered. The MMIW (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women's) Movement is bringing awareness to this phenomena and colonial violence. 

 

KILI is the name of a local Radio station on the reservation that also means, "Very Awesome" in Lakota. 

"The Jingle of Tobacco Cans" is in reference to the use of chewing tobacco cans to make traditional joingle dresses used for dancing in pow-wows

 

"Sing Our Rivers Red" is a reference to a campaign that raises awareness for missing and murdered indigenous woman.


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This article has 3 comments.


on Sep. 10 2017 at 10:16 pm
crumpled_parchment GOLD, Asansol, Other
11 articles 2 photos 16 comments

Favorite Quote:
Let's build bridges, not walls.
~Martin Luther King Jr.~

Beautiful poem. Keep writing. :)

Kip.lu SILVER said...
on May. 5 2017 at 2:31 am
Kip.lu SILVER, Tirana, Other
5 articles 0 photos 32 comments
This is incredible, keep up the good work

on May. 4 2017 at 7:03 pm
HereSheIs BRONZE, Wellesley, Massachusetts
3 articles 0 photos 187 comments

Favorite Quote:
"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." -Plato

So moving and your imagery is amazing and original. A very good way to bring attention to an important issue