Where is the outrage?

It gives me great pleasure to post this poem by my friend J. Dino Delano. It appears in his book Soul's Breath, which he self-published. I have a copy, which I have read several times, and I have heard him read this before, but when Dino read this last night at the Mercury Cafe, it was like I had never heard it before.


MEDICINE MAN III

Ohhhhhh grandson

I care not about the gold you have
stored in vaul'ts, the land you say you
own.

Who's fences keep out human and
animal alike.

Your titles, and your storage of stuff
in boxes, only tells me what you have
forgotten.

I want you to know that from the bay
of the earth, and the silence that sings
within the canopy of rain forest

Comes the breath of your life.

Like a rainbow dove she sits on your
tongue and slides into the rivers of
your body.

Can you still hear the quiet voice that
whispers from the bosom of earht,
your body.

Do you remember how the river you
tumbled into as a child, cooled your
summers hot body.

And that sme water now quenches
your thirst and cleans the inner
arteries, Have you walked in the
wilderness where the city has not yet
stolen the darkness out of the night.

And there in the roof of the sky, the
candles are lit nightly by the hand of
spirits.

Can you let your mind be gathered up
in imagination and flown to the heart
of the galaxy.

Do you still have the courage to leave
the city anxious for riches

And be in the shadow of the woods and
let your body be gathered by the greenn
umbrella of the leaves.

Does the great spirit still send the god
of wind to play with your hair.

Do you still believe in the gods that live
in the skys.

That ride on the wings of hawk and
crow.

Or is your god now mental and no
longer real.

Have you forgotten your voice
grandson

Why has your mouth gone slack, who
stole the wind from your chest

Why are you not screaming

Who stole the rage from your throat

So that they might steal the earth from
your body.

Why do you in yuour silence give
permission to the rape of the earth and
her children.

Scream grandson, scream into the
woods, scream into your pillow, scream
unto your friends.

Scream away the madness so you might
once again hear the quiet voice that
speaks within you.

by J. Dino Delano
Posted with permission
from Soul's Breath, copyright 2004