Laughter- A Message

Focus On What We Can Do~

Crisosto Apache is originally from New Mexico and currently lives on the Mescalero Apache Reservation. His debut featured on Poetry Foundation stems from cultural identity and memory as a self-emerging artist, whose passion lies in the arts. His continued advocacy for Native American LGBTQ+ and dual identity in accepting one’s individual self is what this author currently strives for and it is a great pleasure reading his work as a poet enthusiast.

As a poet, he struggled with language- the English which he learned is what Americans have “force-fed down his ancestors”, during assimilation. The author himself struggled in learning his mother tongue languages as he tried to reclaim his ancestry’s heritage.

The presence of these poets’ words in their landscapes, helps those who struggle with loneliness and silence.

Can we choose to learn about our history’s past and the contributions of the Indigenous tribes, whose land and culture they’ve lost due to the ignorance of the American government? The artists’ have a voice they want to share and this is a chance to do it, because one small step can create a big ripple.

Poem:

These words of two, three years ago returned.
— Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, tr. by Will Petersen

one day, Coyote sees Duck walking her ducklings,

Coyote asks her how she keeps them in a straight line,

Duck says she sews them together

with white horsetail hair every morning

and tugs on the line gently,

until the horsehair disappears,

that is how she keeps her ducklings in a row

as usual, Coyote leaves smiling, she sees a white horse

grazing in a nearby field,

she plucks a few strands of tail hair

and returns to her burrow

the next morning, one by one

she begins to sew her pups together

when she finishes, she gently tugs on the horsehair

and drags their little bodies along the ground,

Coyote tilts her head in dismay and becomes distraught,

she realizes she has killed her little pups

————————————

“Indians” will laugh about anything and anyone,

no matter the tragedy

1.)https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/146698/laughter-5af07ffc40d90

2.) https://therumpus.net/2018/11/23/presence-the-heartspeak-of-indigenous-poets-crisosto-apache/