Written for a challenge at Fireside Poetry for the 16 word Challenge. Sadly, this experience was not uncommon among Native American Children. I lived it.

The Words:

envy, church, licensed, diary
crystal, butterfly, pry, flower,
evening, book, numb, reunite,
calendar, date, crimson, summer

Indian Summer


I use to envy those girls,
With blond hair and blue eyes,
Their diary filled with butterfly kisses,
A Pretty little flower with a heart shape face,

Their calendar circled with the homecoming date,
My book was always empty,
I could not write what I needed to say,
Someone may pry,
Look inside…

Can’t have that…

Every secret exposed,
How do I explain these scrimshaw hands?
Those crimson scars are hard to hide,
Damn Cat.

Damn Cat indeed.

The church was the only one,
with a license for redemption.
And every summer they sent us there,
Hoping to save our souls…

It didn’t work.

We had more faith in our elders,
Than those black-robed nuns,
So eager to beat our hands with rulers,
making them numb,
Or make fun of our names.

Johnny Two-Step broke Sister Ann’s crystal vase,
She beat him black and blue.
The rest of us stood silently by,
Indian Children don’t cry…

But that night,
The evening sky was afire,
With such beauty,
We stood silently then too,

And none of us cried.

And in the summer when we reunite,
Celebrating our passage through life,
We remember that night,
And smile.

Johnny Two-step has such a lovely smile.