Untitled Spoken Word No. 2

White men have been sneakin' up on us for years

Minding my Indigenous business isn't as easy as it sounds

When I'm trying to find a good sugar cereal

Someone might want to touch my braids

Or ask me to give them an Indian name

My calculated response must sometimes include not being

A mean Indian

An insensitive Indian

The kind of Indian that might complain about having our land taken

And our languages lost

And our ceremony criminalized

But sometimes, being an asshole is the best option

I endow you with the Indian name Sadu'u

Which means dog in my native tongue

And you might be asking yourself, "Why Dog?"

Because in the same way

A dog doesn't have enough sense

To disregard its own feces

You keep messing with Native people

Wanting more Indian names

And romantic notions of your sense of pioneer superiority

Without realizing that sometimes, just sometimes

The only good pioneer is a dead pioneer

Because there will always be another settler

To take your place

And begin the cycle over again

"What's your Indian name?"

"Can I have an Indian name?"

So I name you Atsakweta'a

Which means sunburn

Or literal translation is red

Because you have the skin of someone

Who seems to be in a fight with the sun

A fight that you're losing

When some say, "You lost, we won, get over it"

I can't help but think maybe

In terms of the sun

You're losing

The sun is winning

Get over it

The only thing worse than an angry Indian

A spiteful Indian is an insensitive Indian

Because we shouldn't be mad, right?

We should be grateful

For iPhones and education

And Teflon pots and flower shops

And capitalism and student loans

And just enough English to communicate with you

Your new Indian name in English which is

White person who talks too much

Presumes too much

And has no boundaries

Which is a mouthful