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Two Questions
1)
I sprinkle sweetgrass over the fire
after I am told that God
is pleased by the smell
of burning sweetgrass.
I
sprinkle sage over the fire
because, I am likewise informed,
the bad spirits flee the smell
of burning sage.
I—who
believe not
in the Lakota God or
in such spirits—
have I thus shown my respect
for the traditions
of this indigenous people?
Or am I expropriating
their culture
to create some meaning
that is otherwise absent
from my own life?
2)
I hear participants
identify themselves over Zoom:
My name is [fill in the blank]
I live in [such and such city or town]
which is on stolen [name of tribe]
land.
It
is good, I decide, for us
to acknowledge the theft
of this land.
But
what, I would like to ask,
are you doing to restore the land
to these first nations?
Steve
Bloom
September 2024
More
poems by Steve Bloom
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