#34 Janette Hoppe - Reading Mandela

searching for wisdom in these pages
and it is all too common for a native

the slip of tongue,
the insult that others heap onto you
as though they were doing you some kind of service
pointing out     something
you obviously didn't know about
                  'your kind'
because perhaps you're too close to the source

if only I was wise enough
to cover myself in Teflon
that shit would just slide right off
no insult to stick,

no wisdom to be found
us natives -
unlearned,
uneducated.

unchained -
I walk the long way home
connecting with my source
'my kind'
are all wisdom,
all knowing
us natives hold the secrets to land

a foolish man's tongue wags in the wind
the wise man's ear listens to the land
no insult to stick
that shit slides right off
for the land holds all secrets
and us natives hear her whispers
as roars.