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Y2K Indian
- Michigan State University Press
- Chapter
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Y2K Indian Another absentee Indian outside White Earth hand reaches from dream curves toward paddle wakes touches absence. 4 a.m. loneliness settles beside me in a king-size bed turns up the ticking on the mantle clock. Distant dog barks, may flies crack against window glass. I wait for dawn light. Long nights sifting memories sinking spent into morning. Recall what you said the old man said Indian people were not meant to live in cities, and none do. Some reside there but none live there. Another absentee Indian calling myselfhome. Do I begin with the songs whose words I've lost 129 130 forgotten or shoved into drawers of my past like so many green stamps? Or the give-away fabric small yellow flowers waiting to be sewn into garments for children not yet born? Onefinds the way by heart, you say. Humbled I begin shucking layers of easy Indian-ness dig under at last uncover the wound beneath thejiesh that might be all that remains. It pulses, flutters, throbs with something I refuse to name. Remembrance wakens. I smell the windJar my ancestors. They have not gone. I follow the pine scent of their passing find their images reflected in the car mirror the splattered window glass the bank teller's eye know they are following me Jollow the trickroutes. [34.227.112.145] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 16:34 GMT) They move with me easily passing between wilderness and civilization the university and the pow-wow circuit the church pew and the cedar smoke circle. Finding their reflections harbor mine I become comfortable with the story of doubleness learn survival this way. Another Y 2 K Indian writing the circle of return. 131 11111111111111111111111111 9 780870 136078 ...