Joy Harjo-Creek
<O:P></O:P>

"The Blanket Around Her"<O:P> </O:P>

maybe it is her birth<O:P> </O:P>
which she holds close to herself<O:P> </O:P>
or her death<O:P> </O:P>
which is just as inseparable<O:P> </O:P>
and the white wind<O:P> </O:P>
that encircles her is a part<O:P> </O:P>
just as<O:P> </O:P>the blue sky<O:P> </O:P>
hanging in turquoise from her neck<O:P> </O:P>
oh woman<O:P> </O:P>
remember who you are<O:P> </O:P>
woman<O:P> </O:P>
it is the whole earth<O:P> </O:P>

Lizzie Cayuse, Nez Perce, prominent tribal woman; accompanied Chief Joseph to the St. Louis Fair in 1904; picture taken 1903.<O:P>  

Paula Gunn Allen-Laguna/Sioux/Lebanese<O:P> </O:P>

"Grandmother"

Out of her own body she pushed<O:P> </O:P>
silver thread, light, air<O:P> </O:P>
and carried it carefully on the dark, flying<O:P> </O:P>
where nothing moved.<O:P> </O:P>

Out of her body she extruded
shining wire, life, and wove the light<O:P> </O:P>
on the void.<O:P> </O:P>

From beyond time,<O:P> </O:P>
beyond oak trees and bright clear water flow,<O:P> </O:P>
she was given the work of weaving the strands<O:P> </O:P>
into creation, and the gift of having created,<O:P> </O:P>
to disappear.<O:P> </O:P>

After her,<O:P> </O:P>
the women and the men, weave blankets into tales of life<O:P> </O:P>
memories of light and ladders,<O:P> </O:P>
infinity-eyes, and rain.<O:P> </O:P>
After her I sit on my laddered rain-bearing rug<O:P> </O:P>
and mend the tear with string.<O:P> </O:P>

     A fine insight into just how exaggerated and sensationalized the women were portrayed, and in viewing the picture shown below, I should not have to say just plain wrongly depicted, is this engraving done around 1595 by Adrien Collaert II after a work by Martin de vos. It is called: Personification of America and depicts a so-called Native American Queen. This work was originally done from reports by returning explorers and the like and not the on-the-scene witness, that is, the painter.Even so, I wonder what was really in the pipes they smoked while relating their experiences or envisioning what had been reported.
<O:P>More below  ...>>>>></O:P>

     Still, this basic idea of a Native American Queen endured for more than 200 years! All the background stuff disappeared, in time, and she became thinner, certainly bronze beauty of the skin of the Native American became…ah, whiter. As well, she eventually was metamorphosized into the Greek Goddess Minerva complete with tiara, or Diana, the goddess of liberty and war�?either way, as has been proven over and over again: what was once Native American, be it right or wrong, is eventually supplanted by European ideals and if truth gets lost in the doing so, so what?<O:P> </O:P>

     Basically, these times boiled down to this: The vast majority of the first “new comers�?were men, and as such were far more interested in making big bucks; and being the way they were, completely dismissed any notion that another people just might not view women in the same manner they and their own ancestors did. In short, without checking into it, or caring really, they simply transferred their home views and experiences onto the Native American women. How much in error, for the Ponca Leader, Standing Bear spoke with regard to his mother, Pretty Face: “…in her humble way, helped to make the history of her race. For it is the mothers, not her warriors, who create a people and guide her destiny.�?lt;O:P> </O:P>

     The fact is, that while Native American women have been shown as "caretakers", be it of the family or the family's home-keeping, so-to-speak, they have far and away to long rarely been shown in their tribal life continuing roles of traders, farmers, artisans, and healers.<O:P> </O:P>

And - at least in one documented case, entitled to wear a war bonnet. This instance was in the case of Minnie Hollow Wood, Sioux and is said to be at one time the only woman of her tribe so entitled. This came from taking part in combat against the U.S. Calvary. The picture below was taken in 1927.<O:P> </O:P>

"Long Division �?A Tribal History"<O:P> </O:P>

Our skin loosely lies<O:P> </O:P>
across grass borders;<O:P> </O:P>
stones loading up<O:P> </O:P>
are loaded down with placement sticks,<O:P> </O:P>
a great tearing<O:P> </O:P>
and appearance of holes.<O:P> </O:P>

We are brought and divided<O:P> </O:P>
into clay pots; we die<O:P> </O:P>
on granite scaffolding<O:P> </O:P>
on the shape of the Sierras<O:P> </O:P>
and lie down with lips open<O:P> </O:P>
thrusting songs on the world.<O:P> </O:P>

Who are we and do we<O:P> </O:P>
still live?  The doctor<O:P> </O:P>
asleep, says no.<O:P> </O:P>

So outside of eternity<O:P> </O:P>
we struggle until our blood has spread off our bodies<O:P> </O:P>
and frayed the sunset edges.<O:P> </O:P>

It’s our blood that gives you<O:P> </O:P>
those southwestern skies.<O:P> </O:P>
year after year we give,<O:P> </O:P>
harpooned with hope, only to fall<O:P> </O:P>
bouncing through the canyons,<O:P> </O:P>
our songs decreasing<O:P> </O:P>
with distance.<O:P> </O:P>

Linda Hogan<O:P> </O:P>-Chickasaw<O:P> </O:P>

"Calling Myself Home"<O:P> </O:P>

There were old women who live on amber.<O:P> </O:P>
Their dark hands<O:P> </O:P>
laced the shells of turtles<O:P> </O:P>
together, pebbles inside<O:P> </O:P>
and they danced<O:P> </O:P>
with rattles strong on their legs.<O:P> </O:P>

There is a dry river<O:P> </O:P>
between the mandus.<O:P> </O:P>
its banks divide up our land.<O:P> </O:P>
Its bed was the road<O:P> </O:P>
I walked to return.<O:P> </O:P>
We are plodding creatures<O:P> </O:P>
like the turtle<O:P> </O:P>
Born of an old people.<O:P> </O:P>
We are nearly stone<O:P> </O:P>
turning slow as the earth.<O:P> </O:P>
Our mountains are underground<O:P> </O:P>
they are so old.<O:P> </O:P>
This land is the house we have always lived in.<O:P> </O:P>
The women,<O:P> </O:P>
their bones are holding up the earth.<O:P> </O:P>
The red tail of a hawk<O:P> </O:P>
cuts open the sky<O:P> </O:P>
and the sun<O:P> </O:P>
brings their faces back<O:P> </O:P>
with the new grass.<O:P> </O:P>

Dust from yarrow<O:P> </O:P>
is in the air,<O:P> </O:P>
the yellow sun.<O:P> </O:P>
Insects are clicking again.<O:P> </O:P>
I come back to say good-bye<O:P> </O:P>
to the turtle<O:P> </O:P>
to those bones<O:P> </O:P>
to the shells locked together<O:P> </O:P>
on his back,<O:P> </O:P>
gold atoms dancing underground.<O:P> </O:P>

    Sarah Winnemucca was of the Paiute people. She was very intelligent and was well received on the so-called Lecture Circuit, where she ever fought for Paiute Restoration. She was somewhat successful in bringing the American public's attention to the Paiute's problems, and thereby to a somewhat lesser extent the Native American's in general, however, showing the the political beast ever remains true to its nature, the U.S. Government refused to act on their behalf.Sarah Winnemucca died in 1891.<O:P> </O:P>

"The women know as much as the men do, and their advice is often asked�? The council-tent is our Congress, and anybody can speak who has anything to say, women and all. They are always interested in what their husbands are doing and thinking about.And they take some part even in the wars. They are always near at hand when fighting is going on, ready to snatch up their husbands and carry them off if wounded or killed�? If women could go into your Congress, I think justice would soon be done to the Indians."<O:P> </O:P>

Wendy Rose<O:P> </O:P>-Hopi/Miwok<O:P> </O:P>

“The Parts of a Poet�?/SPAN>

Loving<O:P> </O:P>
the pottery goodness<O:P> </O:P>
of my body
settled down on floers<O:P> </O:P>
pulling gollen in great<O:P> </O:P>
handfuls; full and ready<O:P> </O:P>
parts of me are pinned<O:P> </O:P>
to earth, parts of me<O:P> </O:P>
undermine song, parts<O:P> </O:P>
of me spread on the water,<O:P> </O:P>
parts of me form a rainbow
bridge, parts of me follow
the sandfish, parts of me
are a woman who judges.<O:P> </O:P>

     Omaha tribal woman, Susan (Insta Theumba/Bright Eyes) LaFlesche, daughter of an Omaha chief Joseph LaFlesche (Iron Eyes), trained at the Hampton Institute and graduated from the Woman's Medical College in Philadelphia and was the first female Native American Physician.<O:P> </O:P>

 <O:P> </O:P>    She fought extensively for Native American rights, and even though increasing ill health, she continued against incompetence and corruption of the government as well as against those laws that contributed to the dependency and demoralization of the Native American. She also spoke out plainly over the theft of Indian Lands and corrupt government agents.<O:P> </O:P>

Paula Gunn Allen<O:P> </O:P>-Laguna/Sioux/Lebanese<O:P> </O:P>

“Madonna of the Hills�?lt;O:P> </O:P>
She kept finding arrowheads<O:P> </O:P>
when she walked to Flower Mountain<O:P> </O:P>
and shards of ancient pottery<O:P> </O:P>
drawn with brown and black designs - -<O:P> </O:P>
cloud ladders, lightning stars and rainbirds.<O:P> </O:P>

One day<O:P> </O:P>
she took a shovel when she walked that way<O:P> </O:P>
and unburied fist-axes, manos, scrapers,<O:P> </O:P>
stone knives and some human bones<O:P> </O:P>
which she kept in her collection<O:P> </O:P>
on display in her garden.<O:P> </O:P>

She said it gave her<O:P> </O:P>
a sense of peace to dig and remember<O:P> </O:P>
the women who had cooked and scrubbed<O:P> </O:P>
and yelled at their husbands<O:P> </O:P>
just like her. She like, she said,<O:P> </O:P>
to go the spot where she’d found<O:P> </O:P>
those things and remember the women<O:P> </O:P>
buried there.<O:P> </O:P>

It was restful, she said,<O:P> </O:P>
and she needed rest . . .<O:P> </O:P>
from her husband’s quiet alcohol<O:P> </O:P>
and her son who walked around dead.<O:P> </O:P>

     Alice Fletcher spoke, in 1888, before the International Council of Women, noting that an Indian wife never submits "entirely" to her husband:<O:P> </O:P>

 <O:P> </O:P>

"Her kindred have a prior right and can use that right to separate her from him or protect her from him, should he mistreat her�?not only does the woman (under our white nation) lose her independent hold on her property and herself, but there are offenses and injuries which…would be avenged and punished by her relatives under tribal law, but which have no penalty or recognition under our lawas�?At the present time, all property is personal…a wife is as independent in the uses of her possessions as is the most independent man in our midst�?While I was living with the Indians, my hostess one day gave away a very fine horse�?I asked, ,will your husband like to have you give the horse away?�?I tried to explain how a white woman would act, but laughter and contempt met my explanation of the white man's hold upon his wife's property�?As I have tried to explain our statutes to Indian women, I have met with one response. They have said, "As an Indian woman, I was free, I owned my home, my person, the work of my hands, and my children could never forget me.I was better as an Indian woman than under white law."<O:P> </O:P>

     How starkly different was the treatment and view of the white women during this basic same time period? Nancy Lurie, anthropologist and adopted Winnebago wrote:

"Whether the cosseted darling of the upper class or the toil-won pioneer farm wife, the white woman was pitifully dependent through life on the whims and fortunes of one male, first a father and then a husband. Bereft of virtually any political rights, she also lacked the security of a tribe who would then be committed to care for her if she were orphaned or widowed.Traditionally the poor white woman was left with the denigrating embarrassment of accepting charity."<O:P> </O:P>

Joy Harjo<O:P> </O:P>-Creek<O:P> </O:P>

"Remember"

Remember the sky that you were born under<O:P> </O:P>
know each of the star's stories.<O:P> </O:P>
Remember the sun's birth at dawn, that is the<O:P> </O:P>
strongest point of time.  Remember sundown<O:P> </O:P>
and the giving away to night.<O:P> </O:P>
Remember your birth, how your mother struggled<O:P> </O:P>
to  give you form and breath.  You are evidence of her life, and her mother's, and hers.<O:P> </O:P>
Remember your father, his hands cradling<O:P> </O:P>
your mother's flesh, and maybe her heart, too<O:P> </O:P>
and maybe not.<O:P> </O:P>
He is your life, also.<O:P> </O:P>
Remember the earth whose skin you are.<O:P> </O:P>
Red earth yellow earth white earth brown earth<O:P> </O:P>
black earth we are earth.<O:P> </O:P>
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their<O:P> </O:P>
tribes, ,their families, their histories, too. Talk to them,<O:P> </O:P>
listen to them.  They are live poems.<O:P> </O:P>
Remember the wind.  Remember her voice. She knows the<O:P> </O:P>
origin of this universe.<O:P> </O:P>
Remember that you are all people and that all people<O:P> </O:P>
are you.<O:P> </O:P>
Remember you are this universe and that this<O:P> </O:P>
universe is you.<O:P> </O:P>
Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you.<O:P> </O:P>
Remember language comes from this.<O:P> </O:P>
Remember the dance that language is, that life is.<O:P> </O:P>
Remember<O:P> </O:P>
to remember.<O:P> </O:P>

     It is a sad commentary, that somewhere along the line, as in many cases, Native Americans have absorbed some of the lesser qualities of non-Indians. In this case, males have eventually supplanted the leadership of this organization to great if not all extent, and to the point that now it would seem that like America's own political houses, they seem more intent on arguing self-interests and defeating any proposal that does not stem from their own origination whether it be good for the overall welfare of Native American peoples or not. It has gotten so bad, that many will not admit, or even downright deny that the organization was founded by "a woman" or was ever headed by one. I find this deplorable, as well as gravely in error, for the exclusion of the Native American women's abilities in leadership is one of the most debilitating actions that have kept the Native Americans "down", and "down" is where they will remain until "she" again recognized and invested as Native American history shows her rightful place to be.<O:P> </O:P>

 <O:P> </O:P>    It can be argued until hell freezes over, that other race classes in America have risen and they are male dominated; however, that does not wash in this laundry.Those other race classes came from a history of such…Native Americans do not.As well, if you look, you will see that even they in this modern day have awoken to the fact that "their women" are in fact a necessary ingredient to the raising of their races fortunes as well as how a country perceives them.<O:P> </O:P>