Vibes

“Human trafficking.”
The Elders pull us from our joy
Remind us to widen our circles
Who is missing?
Who is hurting?
Who is haunted by ghosts?
Dead babies kill the vibe.
I joke cause it hurts too much.

Suicide makes me freeze
Even as I lean on my sorrows
To make THAT call to another mother.
No wonder some days hurt.
Mine made it through
-for now –
Until someone decides.
They still steal us
Missing and maimed families
Kills the vibe
I don’t always celebrate – it hurts too much

Dis-ease
Claims our bodies, our Elders and our lands
It draws it’s payment
In paper and forms
In discrimination and assumption
Taking it’s pound of flesh
In more scarred, harmed, disappeared.
Is it “progress” that you now give back our dead?

Racism.
That kills the vibe,
But I don’t always get mad – it hurts too much

Shame.
That one haunts many.
Good/Bad
Sinner/Saint
Ruler/Ruled
It takes payment in currency of the self
In midnight recriminations
The jailer is gone
The doors may be heavy
But together we are strong
Together we are enough
Together we can heal
And hold each other
When we must traverse spaces that still hurt too much.

Pehiw Awakening 2022