Poetry: "A Mantra of Desire and Hope: God’s Got This"

When I enter and get close to home

The notion

And

Mantra

Becomes all too familiar

God’s Got This

The institutions

The common place

Indifference

The cynicism

And skepticism about

Shakes me to my core

The downcast eyes

The blatant racism

The white indifference

God’s Got This

As I pass the border unto

The reservation

God’s Got This

The stale air of depression

Descends into my soul

The insanity

The injustice

Pervades

Destitution abounds

God’s Got This

I leap from one house to another

Where there is safety

And solace

God’s Got This

It is in those moments

Amongst family that

I know

The endurance

Of the human spirit

The capacity to love

Of love, regardless

The tenacity of hope

In spite of

The egregiousness of living

Irrespectively

God’s Got This

Outside of the safety of homes

My nation of

People tear at each other’s

Spirit

Take hope

Covet it

Gladiators

In the quest to survive

Regardless

God’s Got This

Words become spears

Tearing flesh and splitting minds

Piles of bodies lie about

As people gather

Enough so they

Can awaken to another day

Where hope can endure yet again

God’s Got This

Children have seen

And know death

Long before it is necessary

The speak about it without

Flinching

Sharing the ghastliness of it

Telling stories as

Though they are tales

Of a place to be

Or they long to be

God’s Got This

Alcohol is the medicine

That keeps the rage at bay

Unravels people’s minds

Helps people endure

The place where America has forgotten

Alcohol is not for our bodies

A gift from the white man

To take away our lands

Our Minds

Ultimately, our spirit

God’s Got This

Hospitality and love

Are not afforded to one another

Only kin and strangers

God’s Got This

It is when the drums beat

The sage is burned

Everyone is summoned

Do we all remember

Our common history

The shame we’ve endured

The love we’ve not yet known

The love that is in abundance

God’s Got This

10/24/2011