Mourning # 8

Mourning # 8

 

All the prayers of the Buddhist monks

the Zen monks, the Benedictine monks

and nuns too rising like yellow smoke

from the fumaroles of a nearby volcano.

 

Sports is two teams, right? Us vs. Them

Only one can win, right?

 

The prayers that black people die

that Don Jesus Trump will establish his realm

and that slavery returns under the

Confederate Flag (like in a movie). Plus

concentration camps. And dead

grandparents.

 

On top of this contest snow dumps a load

a heavy load of coronavirus on the stadium

just as we were praying for our squad

to win to fight in glorious battle.

Unless there are no winners

 

---- Jesse “Jay” Taken Alive, former chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux, 65, advocate and protector of language and culture, died of COVID-19 a week after his wife also died at the Indian Health Service Hospital in Fort Yates, North Dakota. They leave 5 children, 10 grandchildren, 3 great-grandchildren. They were married 45 years. Jay Taken Alive was a passionate leader for tribal sovereignty, defense of tribal lands, fighting drug abuse and suicide devastating tribal communities, promoting higher education for young Sioux and supporting the protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline before his death. Taken Alive met with Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg, and gave her the Lakota name: Maphiyata echiyatan hin win, which means “woman who came from the heavens.”