Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Washita Battlefield National Historic Site by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

Washita Battlefield National Historic Site

by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

for Chief Black Kettle & the Cheyenne People

I. 2016

that journey

i was tired

not ready for

a long drive

i live here now

my land here now

& the cheyenne

my new duty

as i travel

i am afraid

carved country

in this part of

oklahoma

my dark skin

my kinky hair

the worries

the ugly

tales of travel

i am afraid

all this to write

some short history

for peace

at the battlefield

it’s near evening

no one here

to guide

through the bones

i must go alone

on one branch

a flash

cloth bundled

a head with

no features

a jump in grass

no further

i should take off

my shoes

where they died

i walk down

the trail

the sounds

the horses

butterflies hop

they intone

find that place

where you walk
this is where

we wait woman

II. 1864–68
that time

for years

the old ones

waiting

an old story

an old people
caution

a whisper

hope & survive

don’t be afraid

just wait

the world

has lasted

this long

a legacy

we rely upon

lists of treaties

medicine lodge

black kettle

a kind man

suffered power

for peace

i grieve this man

i grieve his wife

no words

to justify

definition

in suffering

i place my prayers

in spirit

in a gift

a bullet

lost in blood

pray before

it talks to you

what a man offered

left behind

children women

beaten by memory

the dawn

custer’s music

the warriors

point to trees

soldiers there

a battlefield

quickly leave

the offerings

for your tongue

III. 1868
that dawn

memory

i must respect

the beginning

the dawn

a mourning

a hot sun

of migration

in this place

stillness

before claiming

river through trees

& elders

surely know

broken vowels

sand creek

counseling quiet

faith in life

through waiting

then a massacre

black kettle

medicine woman later

stop asking me

to understand

to absolve soldiers

no words

i claim

in testimony

buried inside

a memory

it speaks in books

it chides the truth

calm never lasts

i want peace

calm never lasts

i want peace

i can’t forget

custer’s music

the women

sing to children

do not forget

a massacre

remember

tend to stories

find the words

KISS

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