Yes, it’s true I speak ill of the living
in coded ways divorced from the dead.
Why Lyla June fasts on capitol steps.
Why Native women disappear like rabbits
reappear in rivers wrapped in death scarves.
A leader’s slight of voice a disgrace—
we’ve been magicked before into war.
Why we sing mikwendam—even now
remember. On the coldest day of January
gather near ancestral waters, Michigami
(where the Milwaukee, Menominee,
& Kinnickinnic rivers meet like sisters)
where conical mounds still rise on bluffs
story good pathways—bold and blue as nibi.
In the poem “A Water Poem for remembering” Kimberly Blaeser seemingly defend her position on Native Americans being mistreated in this country. She expresses this by giving her perspective on the situation and how this matters. Kimberly Blaeser is a Wisconsin professor who is highly educated in native studies. She certainly has credibility which only helps the points she is trying to make in the poem. Her examples of the hurt being shown from activists for this issue is described as actions people have taken. She goes over Lyla June from which I can research was a native activist that did a seven day fast on the capital steps. Kimberly describes how she feels disconnected from the dead natives who were stripes from their home. I feel you could also interpret this as being disconnected from the culture as a result of the rights and community’s that were destroyed.
She describes how the Natives were physically ran from their land even saying the Woman “disappear like rabbits” Though their culture lives on in some aspects for example them still singing the “mikwendam” a native war song, this being because she feels they are still at war till today. Even hundreds of years after the direct combat they still sing this song not to physically fight but because they are still at war with a country trying to take away their rights and ancestral legacy. Kimberly Blaeser then describes efforts to bring awareness to the natives right issues and what they do to remember their past culture that they try and let live on till today. People gathered at ancestral waters in a cold January day Michigami (where the Milwaukee, Menominee,& Kinnickinnic rivers meet like sisters). Meeting at native origins like this are important in spreading the awareness for the multitude of native right movements. The author describes the mounds still rising at the ancestral place. “where conical mounds still rise on bluffs
story good pathways” Describing a piece of their culture that still exist today and represents them living on. She describes them as “bold and blue as nibi.” Nibi I believe meaning water in Native American culture. Water seemed to be a common thing throughout the poem, with them visiting ancestral waters and the mounds having water like aspects.
In conclusion, Kimberly Braeser wrote this poem to express the efforts in fighting for Native American rights. She expresses the harsh reality she feels they go through on a daily basis.
Thomas Dalzell 3A Barber