Yellow Quill Woman

they took her from the Nation

far from crystal meth

far from the painful deaths,

her father, brother, mother-dead

her children scattered

her sister said

she thought jail might help

not that it mattered

to anyone

they took her from the Nation

a Squirrel

a storehouse of energy

a gatherer

a builder

a preparer of the future

they release her with a bus ticket

nothing else in her pocket

dressed in the clothes of summer

she had come in with.

soft color

soft as her young skin

I see her standing outside the gates

heart expanding

the world

a cold wide mouth

with icicle teeth

the wind sings

they find her

three days later

frozen

as if asleep

she has a place to go

her sister

her sister does not know

Kim and Kara

sisters and best friends

forever

spring a wounded bird from a trap

it will die right in front of you

they took her from the Nation

far from her people

the Yellow Quill

is there anyone

out there who will

pay for this crime?

crime is a one-way street

only one place

to send women

in that province

send them far, far away

send women who use

send women who are used

send them

send them

take them away

add them

to the piles and piles

of First Nation women

walk by the piles every day

you will no longer see them

Ošāwaškokwanēp

means Blue Green Quill

kill your name

when naming you

what is this theory of Color?

what did she dream of

In the hard snow?

did she see blue and white?

did she make a snow angel?

Flying Squirrel

not bird

not mammal

fertile

six children

who will not know her

except in songs

not belonging

her soul

flew too soon