dark bloodstains
coat these arrowheads
native voices rattle about the priest's whore
I laugh when all that it is I am doing is weighing
out two ounces of herb while they weigh two ounces
of tobacco to disperse among the peace pipes, who shall
they criticize

when I am gone?

inhalation sings
an Egyptian song
and I am certain I won't
be erased to prevent the
possibility of another female
asserting herself,

and now it is time to go stone,

I see
the inscription
on the obelisk of
Hatshepsut "Now my heart
turns this way and that, as I think
what the people will say -  those who
shall see my monuments in years to
come, and who shall speak what I have
done."  I am keenly conscious of my contributions

and my place in history...

Copyright Ms. Sage Sweetwater, firebrand lesbian novelist