The Great Urban Indian Poem
The Great Urban Indian Poem
By Kim Shuck
Has already been written
Most people missed it the
Fancy dancer had finally finished his
Urban regalia collected his last
Windshield wiper blade for his Oklahoma/Oakland
Back bustle complete with Harley gas cap rosette found
Himself lining up next to a red-headed San Francisco girl her shawl
Edge marked with graffiti from outside of Eli's Mile High Club and
John Lee played the two-step himself
The great urban Indian poem is ongoing but
Most people miss it because there will never be a release party or even a
Book and Deb Iyall, though she may want to will not play the event and
The tribes involved are conflicted because one of the
Poets has no CDIB card and the other is from an
Unrecognized band that had never been more than obscure and she
Refuses to wear the 'official' tribal dress because, well
It's horrible and not even historically relevant and makes her
Look like a cloth muffin and she'd really like the
Cute girl in the shawl competition to look at her and the
Muffin dress won't get that done which is a
Whole other can of politics
The great urban Indian poem will be found
When you least expect it and
Yes
Parts are even scrawled onto those fussy
Coffee cup insulators but only coffee from small
Local cafes because culture is at its
Root not something that can be sold by chain stores there will be no
Signs directing people to the poem and it will not be reviewed or
Published in a sanctioned literary organ but
Pay attention because if you hear
Jim Pepper in the background you might be
Close
Kim Shuck is a long protein who is called a poet but seems to write more small biographies than poems these days. Shuck is a citizen of both the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and the United States. Her work is published all over the Western Hemisphere and also in Jordan, Italy and the United Kingdom. Kim teaches at most levels of education, currently in a 2nd grade and a college literature class. Her most recent book is Clouds Running In. She is the current poet laureate of San Francisco.
http://riverbloodandcorn.blogspot.com/2017/02/
“The Great Urban Indian Poem” first appeared in the chapbook Sidewalk NDN (2014)