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Pastoral

        Think of the work you will do
with your hands as the good,
        good work, think of
the earth. If to tie a man
        down in war is an act
of love, then think of the sows
        your father raised, how
you called them in, held them
        down, and how warm
and pink. And the meat goes to market
        and a man goes to war
and here you must learn
        to hang or be hanged.
If someone's throat in your hand
        grows too warm, remember
to keep him talking, long after
        he has said what you need
him to say, remember how you worked
        the cow's ripe udder, long after
the calf was weaned. Glean something
        useful: a name or a street
or the last day his father was seen.
        And should he cry out
in the darkness, think of the way
        you called out when your father
first bled a sow, think of
        the voice in your throat calling
out, and your father's voice loud over yours
        calling hush. Saying, Mercy, this
is the way all things be. And if the blood
        on your hands grows too dark,
think of the bright pail of milk, its froth,
        how you made something good
long after the calf had grown
        cold, how you made something good
with your hands, with your warmth,
        there in the warm and lonely dark.

The Rez Sisters II

after tomson highway

cast:

girl of surplus. girl who is made from fragments. she who can only be spoken of by way of synecdoche. she whose name cannot be enunciated only mouthed.

mother of that which cannot be mothered. mother who wants nothing and everything at the same time. she who gave birth to herself three times: 1. the miscarriage. 2. the shrunken world. 3. the aftermath.

sister of forest fire. sister who dwells in the wreckage. she who forages for the right things in the wrong places. nothing is utopia and so she prays to a god for a back that can bend like a tree splitting open to make room for the heat.

aunt of the sovereignty of dust. aunt of that which cannot be negated entirely. she who is magic because she goes missing and comes back. she who walks upside down on the ceiling of the world and does not fall.

kookum of love in spite of it all. kookum who made a man out of a memory. she who is a country unto herself.

father of ash. father of a past without a mouth. he who ate too much of the sunset.