• Breaking News

    The New Verse News presents politically progressive poetry on current events and topical issues.

    Sunday, February 5, 2017

    DAKOTA CLEARING

    by Peleg Held



    On February 1st, several water protectors established the "Last Child Camp" in exercise of the 1851 and 1868 Fort Laramie Treaties. In response the Morton County Sheriff, National Guard, and armed mercenaries raided the camp arresting over 70+. —Winona LaDuke Honor the Earth, February 3, 2017


    A man in holster and badge parts the fabric
    of a Tipi. He is looking but doesn't see
    the enemy or the polls as they converge
    over his head. Behind him, his people come
    as they have always come, with the license
    of force and numbers to clear the land.
    Warriors wait, laughing, chanting, bound
    together by song and the smoke of their fire.
    Under the earth, cold iron rings the emptiness
    as a black snake dreams of the last child
    on the land and how good it will be to be full.


    Peleg Held lives in Portland, Maine with his partner and his dog Emitt. There is also the semi-feral cat, Smudge. And a kid or two. pelegheld(at)gmail.com.

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