Ninja (another short poem)

[Wetzelbill]

Not sure what I will call this yet, haven't edited it yet either... just rolling out the words etc. Maybe I'll finish it up later and use it for something, we'll see. :)


I am a ninja stealthily weaving
Inside the enemy’s lines

A light-skinned heathen
Invisible to the world

Nobody knows who I am
Unless I tell them

“A Blackfeet Indian,” I say
To bewildered looks

“You look so white” a Mexican
Once told me

The exact opposite of an apple
White on the outside
Red
On the inside

Sometimes I feel like a fraud
A mixed blood crusader

Like a comical anthropologist wearing a backpack
And a “Frybread Power!” t-shirt

Should I grow myself a ponytail?
Tell pissy coyote stories?

Oh, hell, this guy can’t write about Indians
He isn’t even one

Look how white he is! Look! He glows!
So how will I defend my glowing self?

Some white people think I’m an Indian
Others don’t even know it
I’m
Not sure which bothers me more

Some Indian people think I’m white
Others know but don’t care

I wish I could have it stamped on my forehead
At times I wish I could hide it

But, every good Indian has tried quitting before
Sort of like crack and beer

Once being an Indian grips you tightly
The phenomenon can’t be stopped

So I’m an Indian weaving in the white world
Far from my reservation

My stealth consistent for years and years
In both worlds
Nobody
Seems to know who I am

Not even me

[frogmarch]

1. No one who

isn't half Native American and half "white" can really understand what it's like to feel caught between these two worlds, but your poem certainly offers some insight. Well done, Wetzelbill.

[katinmn]

2. yes, very insightful

I think people of other mixed ethnic backgrounds can identify with your thoughts.

:thumbsup: