Exile in situ: A Protest Soliloquy by Howard Stein
Howard Stein protests the uprooting of Native Americans by white settlers. The poem is relatable to a condition of alienation and self doubt.
Many voices have
Given me these words;
I pass them on
To you –
What we have long called home,
you call wilderness,
to do with as you please.
You defiled our ancestral land.
You profaned our sacred trails.
You poisoned our earth
and our streams with your atomic waste.
You made us homeless in our own home.
You uprooted us in space and time.
You sowed chaos in the universe.
How do we repair what you have broken?
Can our ceremonials and offerings
bind the earth together once again?
Is renewal possible?
What holy power can
fend you off?
Is there a medicine bundle
that can heal us?
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