****
John Trudell is a poet, musician, and an advocate for Native American rights. He did not set out to be a writer. His poetic gift developed out of the remarkable, sometimes horrifying circumstances of his life.
Trudell grew up on and around the Santee Sioux reservation near Omaha, Nebraska. In 1969 he participated in the Indians of All Tribes occupation of Alcatraz. From 1973 to 1979, he served as national chairman of A.I.M., the American Indian Movement. The government response to A.I.M. was swift Trudell said, “They waged war against us. They hunted us down. They killed, jailed, destroyed us, by any means necessary.”
In 1979 that war took a terrible personal toll on John Trudell. On February 11, he led a march to the FBI headquarters in Washington D.C. Approximately 12 hours later, in the early morning hours, a fire “of suspicious origin” burned down Trudell’s home on the Shoshone Paiute reservation in Nevada, killing his wife Tina, their three children, and Tina’s mother. Devastated by the loss of his family, Trudell withdrew from the world; “writing words” became his way “to keep some sanity” and continue to survive.
Trudell returned as musician, poet, and highly sought-after public speaker. You are about to hear the first half hour of a talk he gave in March 2001 in San Francisco. The hall was filled to capacity. Trudell took the stage with a thin folder of his poems under his arm. He began with a disclaimer of sorts, leading into a free association of thoughts about Earth and Sun, ancient wisdom, and modern intelligence, and what it means to be a human being. Here is John Trudell.
"Well I, I’ll try to be coherent. And I don’t know exactly where we’re going but wherever it is, we’ll be okay. But if I say anything that you don’t agree with, that’s just really what it is, right? Because I really am crazy. Really."
I flew with the eagles
Until I fell from the nest
I ran with the wolves
Then got lost from the pack
Slowly I go crazy every day
Some days run faster than others
I never strayed into heaven
It was hard getting past hell
I traveled through and beyond
The death and birth of man
I am Iktomi
Imagine running out of imagine
Mistaking authority for power
Weaving lifes free spirit
Into patterns of control
I heard all that was said
Until now I hear nothing at all
The edge between twilight and dark
The great lie lurks
Prostitution of soul
Anyone can do it or not
I went down some roads
That stopped me dead in my tracks
I am Iktomi
I’ve been the mirror
To others reflecting selves
I’ve known love that can’t help
But love and I’ve been close
To that hurting way of love
I flew with the eagles
Until I fell from the nest
I ran with the wolves
Then got lost from the pack
From the earth
Wind cave memories
One with the sky
Time of different motions
Dog days dreamer
Chasing the neon
Woven into minds
From my place in line
I fell out of order
I’ve been here
I’ve been there
I’ve been anywhere
And
I haven’t been anywhere
and I’ll be back again
I am Iktomi
Imagine running out of imagine
Mistaking authority for power
Weaving lifes free spirit
Into patterns of control
In the reality
Of many realities
How we see what we see
Affects the quality
Of our reality
We are children of Earth and Sky
DNA descendant now ancestor
Human being physical spirit
Bone flesh blood as spirit
Metal mineral water as spirit
We are in time and space
But we’re from beyond time and space
The past is part of the present
The future is part of the present
Life and being are interwoven
We are the DNA of Earth, Moon, Planets, Stars
We are related to the universal
Creator created creation
Spirit and intelligence with clarity
Being and human as power
We are a part of the memories of evolution
These memories carry knowledge
These memories carry our identity
Beneath race, gender, class, age
Beneath citizen, business, state, religion
We are human beings
And these memories
Are trying to remind us
Human beings, human beings
It’s time to rise up
Remember who we are
read more:
http://ratical.org/many_worlds/JohnTrud ... Being.html