A Hmong immigrant finds her way back home through her language and her poetry. Pa Vue After we arrived in America in that two-bedroom apartment I wonder how we squeezed nine people and a flock of chickens and still feared tsov the monarch of the jungle stalking us from his chaparral throne as a
A poem by a Palu’e-Malaysian youth speaks to the importance of love for people and nature in times of grief and loss. FAUZ MA . We know the movie of this world We know how to play this act We know how to stop this drama We imagine all things in our minds The actor
A Khasi youth expresses love and pride for his native land and culture. WORDS AND IMAGE Carmel Fedrick Malngiang Khasiland — The name of my homeland, Located somewhere on earth. Famous For its beauty, rain songs, and war Rich in culture and Unique in history. The aroma of love pervades the air, The
A statement of resolve and determination to reconnect to heritage. WORDS AND ART Cheyenne Muscovich I’m regrowing my tongue Yet still it is cut The field gets watered but the water is dirty It was used to wash the guilt of others’ pasts I’m regrowing my body It is stunted from the
A found poem that summons us to respect plants, listen to their wisdom, and learn their names. WORDS AND IMAGES Lee Beavington my grandfather was an expert my father only learned some ……….I know almost nothing we hunt, see, pick, smell, gather, use, boil, taste red sap of the root bladder of
A poem that pays homage to trees as our Elders, life-givers, and first teachers. Chang Liu (劉長亭) Disciple-less, you were dropping bushels of unrecorded wisdom all over the sidewalk in great pulpy explosions. The owners were away for the summer — not to blame. Years later, to my microphone a shriveled Ngäbere
Art that chooses to meet evil with beauty: A response to the discovery of mass graves of Indigenous residential school children. WORDS AND ART Rose Imai The first news stories came flooding into our consciousness telling of the unmarked graves of thousands of Native children Children who had been forcibly taken from their homes to
Fauzi Bin Abdul Majid My oxygen is love My oxygen is joy My oxygen is forgiveness My oxygen is nature My oxygen is togetherness Their oxygen is money Their oxygen is power Their oxygen is war Their oxygen is killing Their oxygen is hate They took my oxygen away, So they can breathe. They killed
Darryl Whetung Our spirit isn’t red skin, or light skin, brown skin, white skin Or if we have red hair, brown or black hair, when will the buffalo herd come back here? Are we raven or are we eagle? We are families, we are equals It’s our wigwam, it’s our war song, or the moon that
Teja Jonnalagadda We have fallen so far from where the water fell. There a wall stands now to power dishwashers, curling irons, flat screen TVs, and telephone poles. The fish no longer swim freely. Crawling up step ladders like meticulous marmosets. Flooded the valley floor, to ensure that we can always take more. We have