Native American Peace Poetry from Year of The Poet (Vol 54)

Featured in The Year of the Poet June, 2018 Volume 54.

Written In Stone

What if all
that was left of me
in a hundred years
is that which is written
in stone

I thought today about what will last
from my life like the spear heads
of the Paleo Indians
North America’s now extinct founders

Some of the first people to live
on this continent I call home
where what we know about their lives
is what they created from stone
eleven thousand years ago

That is what lasts
and I wonder what
I am writing in stone

Written in Stone poetry with Kimberly Burnham Photo by Deniz Altindas on Unsplash

Allinyanakapuy

All in
feel the balance in
allinyanakapuy and allinyuyay
the celebration yay
even without the meaning
the power in these Quechua words

Used by Incan Shamans to work
their healing over the centuries
feel the flow
the vowels sprinkled in
between the consonants
starting at the beginning
with good “allin”

Peace allinyanakapuy
and conscience allinyuyay
spreading out between
to heal allinyachiy
and to recover allinyay
ancient words to make peace or reconcile
in an early language
celebrated peacefully in the Americas

Origins

Exactly when the Ute came
with Shoshoni and Comanche
an issue debated
by ethnologists anthropologists and historians
even from where they came
is in doubt
perhaps they are descended
grown strong from earlier Paleo-Indians
bound by similar languages
these three dominated
Colorado’s western slopes
for a thousand years

The Year of the Poet Volume 54 June 2018, Inner Child Press, Poetry Posse, Kimberly Burnham, Native Americans peace.

Originally published in The Year of The Poet (Vol 54) at http://www.innerchildpress.com/the-year-of-the-poet.php on June 1, 2018.