John Smelcer, “After a Sermon at the Church of Infinite Confusion,” Indian Giver

At ten, Mary Caught-in-Between
came home from sunday school,
told every animal and bird and fish
they couldn’t talk anymore,
told her drum it couldn’t sing anymore,
told her feet they couldn’t dance anymore,
told her words they weren’t words anymore,
told Raven and Coyote they weren’t gods anymore,
said god was a starving white man
with long hair and blue eyes and a beard
who no one loved enough to save
when they nailed him to a totem pole.

— John Smelcer, “After a Sermon at the Church of Infinite Confusion,” Indian Giver
Photo: John Smelcer website