Ghost Dance

the real ceremony is righteous

hatred for the murder of the buffalo

for the betrayal of the bond

whose bones blow now in dust

across you lands, whose blood

seeped down and fed the water

whose vow was never broken

so long as the people remained

faithful to their end of the deal

and the Buffalo Nation roamed

all would be well

now, the people and those

of the bizhiki who yet remain

live tight and poor and despised

except as caricatures of worship

but the vow was real

and now those betrayals return

fed by iron in the ground

become the crackpot legislators

who take money from the

Gundamentalist lobby

who breathe the dust and drink

the water and believe themselves

a proud and fearsome nation

and believe they are exempt

from the bloodlust

that is so inexplicably

spiraling

hurricanes

tornados

mass shootings

false flags

the buffalo nation in tatters and rags

solemnly witnessing

their unwanted told you so.