Mike Ashkewe

I am not the trauma of my childhood
I am different.
I am learning of what happened to me and accepting it
I am different
I promise this will not happen to anyone again
I am different
I will spread the truth to those who will listen even if it is difficult
I am different
I will not hold vengeance in my heart for lost time
I am different
I will build bridges across impossible gaps
I am different
I will ask you to sit across from me in friendship
I am different

Carried by whispers on the spring breeze, we call out as nature’s chorus
Gentle as a mother’s touch we caress your ears and tussle your hair
Stir memories of the times we spent together under sunshine days and starlit nights
Welcome the cold refresh of our deep waters in your heart and soul
Gaze from the tops of our hills and cliffs and see the worlds open before you
Run through our flowered fields and dance through bountiful forests free of worry
Touch the soil feel the heartbeat of the Earth and share it’s song in you
Listen to the laughter of the bees and the cry of the loon echo in your soul
This is where we are connected to
This is where you are from
This is home

I chose you long before you were alive, my love
I sang to you in the infancy of creation and I will sing to you at the end of all things
I loved you before you drew your first breathe and I’ll love you long after you last
I will walk with you everyday of your life and you will walk with me after your life ends
I will teach you everyday of your life and you will teach me after you depart life
I will listen wherever and whenever you need me
I will watch you from places near and far and always with love and wisdom
I will speak to you in dreams and when you are afraid
I will comfort you and hold you and you will know I am there for you
I need you as much as you need me
I am a part of you and you are a part of me now and forever
I chose well

I am not better than you because all are created equal
I will share what I have because I want to make sure you have what you need
I will listen when others speak and speak when I can help others and continue to learn
I will be brave when times are tough and I am uncertain of the future
I will only speak truth because lies have no place among us
I will love truly of myself so that my love is true when I share it with another heart
I will respect you and hold you in regard and know we share it together.
I am thankful for the gift of these teachings

Drums beat as my heart tries to keep pace
Creator guide my heart to a new place
Drums beat as my eyes look towards the sky
Creator fills my body with the strength of Earth
Drums beat as my ribbons and feathers flow in the wind like dancers
Creator touches my skin with sweat as I dance with purpose
Drums beat as leather bound song empowers all who hear it and feel it
Creator uses my voice to sing thunder
Drums beat as my spirit touches ancient souls
Creator connects me with all that ever was and ever will be
Drums beat forever.

We hear the sounds of screaming sirens and ground trembles at sounds of approaching boots
My brothers and sisters hold hands together in protection of the sacred behind us
We breathe in the choking gas of attempted subjugation and still we resist
Our land is not yours for the taking
Black masks and body armor march towards us wearing uniforms of lies & false protection
My family is unafraid and undeterred against the oncoming juggernaut
Clashes of flesh against metal as blows wrapped in laws of long dead conquerors rain down
Through defiant tears and blood, we look into your eyes and see the hesitation at your master’s orders
Restraints bind our hands and violently we are taken off our feet and forced to the ground
We cry out and let the wind carry our fury far and wide across the lands of ancestral memory
We are not alone as more of us emerge and surge forward to push back the invaders
Authority realizes it doesn’t hold sway here despite it’s best efforts
Broken chains fall from our wrists and we howl towards the sky victorious
We chant and we drum and let the sound of thunder be our guide as you cower from us
This is our land
Not yours

Who am I?
I don’t look like the other kids.
Who am i?
I don’t look like you either
Who am I?
I’m told that I’m getting a new name that’s easier to pronounce
Who am i?
I can’t speak the language my family taught me
Who am I?
I am told that you’re my new family
Who am I?
I am told that this is for my own good and I’ll understand when I’m older
Who am I?
I am told that I believe in God now.
Who am I?
I’m told that I am supposed to love you
Who am I?
I don’t like it here and I want to go home

Help is on the way
You give us land that cries out in pain
Help is on the way
You break our wills and tell us it’s for our own good
Help is on the way
You steal from us and say we agreed to it before many of us were alive
Help is on the way
You told lies about us in school because it hurt your version of the truth
Help is on the way
You promised us things would get better if we elected you
Help is on the way
You lied.

I wear the pride and history of my people with distinction
Leather and feathers flow in the wind as I feel the spirits bring my heart to joy
You wear my ancestors as a costume
You bought a history off the rack of a discount store run by name tags
I sing the songs of the first people so that they may live eternally through us
Beautiful and graceful voices touch the air as summer’s breezes
You mock me with gross gestures and weak imitations of warrior cries
I dance to honor Creator and the stories of the past
Bodies move to the rhythm of the life enveloping us and connect me to home
You say I am lazy, uneducated
You search for new ways to rape the land in the name of progress
I stand defiant and I stand tall
I am strong because of the path behind me despite your attempts to assimilate us
You say peace is impossible
You tell me that we can’t coexist in the same spaces
We extend our hand hesitantly and hopeful and ask “What if we tried?”

Worn shoes begging for direction against desolate concrete roads leading far from safety.
Frigid winds assault the face of a another girl and promise to wipe away tears of fear and worry
A horizon unfamiliar approaches welcoming its new visitor with unknown intentions
Faces behind glass watch as the traveler continues forward never knowing their stories
Gasoline’s fumes cling onto fading prayers
A predator has found their prey on hopes and wishes of mercy
Smiles hide behind depraved intentions of forbidden savagery
The monsters gaze looks deep into the heart of this innocent and it can taste fear intoxicating
Another is taken from life’s grasp violently and screaming into unyielding darkness
The sun rises upon another traveler as they walk looking for something better
Evil knows it holds unchallenged power of a cruel God taking lives at a whim on this sad highway
The next traveler wonders if any will mourn her if she is taken in the night like so many before her.
We are lost names to be etched in forgotten graves forever silenced
The night is waiting to indulge it’s next horrible crime that will go unpunished

The streets are quiet but I hear them screaming from my window at night.
Sabers rattle in the echelons of power
Prisoners of banks and power suits telling us to conquer and consume
I pitifully yell at electronic screens across fiber optic hubs and disjointed wifi
The war of change is at the doorstep and it does not politely knock
Forceful angry shouts shake the glass and threaten the window of safety
An ant against the juggernaut of feigned progress but still standing defiant
We are not part of the gluttony molds that pour you into numbers in a coffin in a forgotten basement of a glass monolith.
I am screaming from the street for all to hear and I will not be quieted
We will not be censored
We will reclaim what has been lost to a system built to enslave and shackle to early graves
Once again the streets with sing and not cry
We will throw off plastic uniforms and burn it all down and join hands in joy
The powerful should be fearful
Hide in your boardrooms and tax havens
You are not safe.
Know that rhythmic beat is not the sound of money being counted
It is a countdown of a thousand disenfranchised souls marching forward
We were treated as disposable prey on the platters made of our shattered dreams
Tonight you are hunted by the fury of those wage slaves
Our souls are not commodities to bought and sold
Our flesh was never for sale
Let the Earth shake from our approach and watch your world in flames
Tonight we force you to answer for tears given in the name of profit

A frigid bed with a rotted sheet to keep the children near.
Where is the safety of warmth and of places without fear?
Suffer. Wrap yourself in a cloak of poverty, seen by all so clear
How does the cloudy path ahead of you appear?
You are just a disposable and easily forgotten gear.
This is the uniform of the drear.
Grinded and pounded. Punishment so severe.
Your pay cheque is but a salted tear.
Led by force at the tip of a spear.
Behind your smile is a sneer
Politeness so fiery, insincere.
Still, you persevere.

Wrapped in shrouded chain.
Forced to drink in,
unrelenting rain
They know of terror and pain.
Spirit unbroken,
They remain.
Standing tall on broken glass.
They maintain.
This land is their eternal domain.
Lies coated in honey,
and given in vain.
Curses fitted to restrain.
Fear and madness,
drive them insane.
Breaking free of bondage,
regain.
Songs echo,
across the silent plain.
Together they rise up,
Forever, they reign.

I am the stray thought that hides beneath the surface.
I am the sideways glance that undresses
I am the touch that lingers too long in a familiar place.
I am the question that is never asked
I am the kiss that should never have happened but did.
I am the longing in your heart that goes unfulfilled.
I am the lust that consumes like wild fire
I am the words never said but expressed just the same.
i am the thousand possibilities never realized.
I am the fear of a wrong choice made
I am the love on a distant shore.
I am the loyalty tested.

I am forged in fire and given shape by hands who craft me for survival to feed the hungry and war’s fury plunged into the heart of a foe.
A tool to some.
A weapon to others.
Instinct runs through your boiling and screaming blood.
I am perfection honed to an edge so sharp that Gods and mortals alike will be cut.
At your side or in your hand, you guide me as you see fit without judgment or prejudice.
Do you make a decision that will ripple throughout the life around you?
I have been made of obsidian and of iron mined from the Earth itself.
Do I aid in your survival or do you use me to take life?
Countless souls have fallen before my touch and many more will come after them.
Do you give into the whispers of blood shouting in your ear or give mercy an audience?
I am only an instrument who plays through a symphony of blood.
Your muscles tighten and I await with anticipation.
Give yourself over to me and I will give you what you want.
The moment passes and the impulse subsides
Know that I am there just beneath all your civility.
I am passion, I am vengeance, all i need is your thirst to be quenched for us to be satisfied
We will meet again someday like old rivals and even friends.
Your restraint can only go so far.
I know all your darkness and i know what price you’ll pay
Your lies of forgiveness will be broken
You cannot resist me forever

Paths that crossed for reasons unknown and bonded deep and true
Words spoken through glances and smiles spread volumes of memories ever eternal.
You held me up when I was in tireless toil and in return I shared the joyfulness inside my heart.
Fast companions in the adventure path ahead and never did we fear the roads as long as we faced it together.
Never did we question each other’s loyalty and understood the price of such commitments.
Nights never seemed dark and lonely when you were always there to be confidant and holder of all that I was and could hope to be.
The trust eternal.
Possibilities swam around us but never found home in the familiar but we knew the waters were always safe there.
I never felt as safe as I did with my back to you as yours to mine as we would protect each other with no quarter being given to any foe who dared come into our sacred space.

Snow upon ground disappears under foot as I effortlessly glide through the brush of ancient birch and pine.
Delicate and silent in the of the Odin sleep of summer’s distant memories, this landscape ruled by ice and frost.
Fallen tears from winter’s embrace sparkle in the moonlight as I dash forward relentlessly towards the throne of my frozen kingdom.
Magnificent light bathes the landscape in the brilliance of the hunter’s moon.
My moon.
I am cunning and wit given form of red and white and I am undeterred by those who would hunt me and underestimated by those who are my prey.
A scent on the the breeze alerts me to something who has decided to disturb the stillness.
Is it hunter or prey?
Do I stalk them from afar or pounce on them and take my chance with the chase?
I already know and my four legs are in motion running and the blood pumps faster than the my heart can take and I am alive.
I run and I run and I look sharp eyes and see the foot falls of an innocent who doesn’t know Mother Earth has already decided it’s fate.
Our eyes meet and faster ever forward does my body move and a quick flash of teeth and bone It is done.
Life paints the snow a deep crimson and the forest is again quiet.
The price is paid to the thief king in the night and I retreat til I can once more reclaim my frozen seat over the ever timeless winter and night.

Torn away from lands of dance and song to prisons of mercy and watched over by an invisible God that I do not recognize as Creator strips my language from my tongue and replaces it with new universal gibberish.

Spirit expunged from my mouth and replace with hollowness and faith conceived in fear and not of respect. Spirit still clings to me as it is washed without concern as they take the color from mine to match theirs.

Assimilated, forgotten and brought to the white savior and longing for brother,sister and those who spoke to the unseen who glided the forest of ancestors and ran through fields unmolested.

A history of forgeries and half truths disguised as gospel and forbidden knowledge of true self buried under guilt and held in place for table scraps at tables waited on by others screaming for their rightful place.

Freezing nights wrap icy tendrils inviting an escape to oblivion but we endure despite it. Manufactured clothes that reek of chemical and moan angrily against the skin of the taken, the stolen, the first.

Shattered, left feeble and empty handed, we will stand tall in the stories of those who shall listen. Blood soaked land and graves of the hidden mark their inhumanity to be uncovered by machine guided justice. Thunder falls from the sky as something lurches forward from time immaterial to shake ground and foe alike.

A reckoning comes and is led by fire, word and need, our pain writes a path forward for those left behind.

A contract between country and kin signed in forged metal and delivering what is called upon.
Sworn to a sacred pact sealed in steel and honored with aim swift and true.
More than a uniform or banner, standing tall for those who cannot.
Pledging an oath to those who will never know your name and history may forget.
Blood, sweat and tears force you forward and move broken bodies to screams of victory.
The price of freedom paid in full and with a glad heart.
Grinning at an uncertain fate.
Bring me home should I fall but let the ink of life stain the ground as a final message.
Stalwart even in the face of Armageddon.

Gentle whispers of the first people fill the spaces between the machines of man.
Songs of joy and pride follow the wind across the land and speak to those who listen.
Wisdom of elders soothes the spirit when the noise of the city threatens to overwhelm
Laughter from the blades of grass as the sun fills the Earth with warmth.
We fly above concrete and steel and tap into the unseen power that only those of blood know.
The ethereal touch of our ancestors guides us without fear

A battered ship upon crushing waves threatening to swallow all
Discarded fragments of what was once cherished lay shattered on cold decks.
Echoes of distant words that warmed the soul now reverberate only bitterness and regret.
Memories of smiles remembered in mirrors reflect sadness and loneliness
Abandoned familiarity without warmth.
A void where a heart once grew, now it slowly begins to decay without the glow of another to share its space.
Blindly sailing into unyielding freezing black seas on tattered sails now traveled alone.
Forward into uncertainty and into a night which may never end.