Aziza S

The Phony Shoshone who only grew up on The Rez

Red dust rising on a gravel track

The shadow of a pack of stray dogs follows

Tall rocks of blue and grey, a constant watchful eye

Though bound, the current land in these current times

Allows the spirit to speak

English will always be the second language

As long as we hold the land 

Where our drumbeats and songs always begin

Ancestors find ease in the rows of stone

They continue to whisper their names

Our stories echo their resilient yells

 

Though I don’t drum and there is no dance in my feet

I hold the echoes of the Eastern Shoshone in my soul

My heritage will return to be rooted deep in the ground

And like the prairie rose, it will continue

To push through the red dirt

For in rivers, the kwitsunaippeh

The essence of life continues to flow.