this fractured language
rolls off my tongue
places me in a context of time
my Grandmother spoke the old language
when she spoke you felt her words
like country -
it became part of you
we grew up knowing the importance of language
the importance of culture
our ways, our customs,
our stories,
ourselves
my culture
the mountain climbers Everest
my tongue slides over
oral histories
mountain, river, ocean
my education
the white man's institution
incarcerating my tongue
oral histories
shackled, muzzled,
dishonoured treaty
mountain, river, ocean
my fractured tongue
longs for the old language,
the old ways, the old words,
the lost words
oral histories
that wove us into our land
mountain, river, ocean.
I love this, especially the brilliant opening stanza which so economically goes to the heart of questions of language and identity.
ReplyDeleteThank you Efi.xx
DeleteWonderful poem. Love the line: incarcerating my tongue. Such a powerful way to talk about the strictures imposed on us.
ReplyDeleteThank you Susan.xx
Deleteinside my heart/ the part where I scream wirray, wirray ( no no)
ReplyDeleteThank you Kerri.xx
ReplyDelete