ONLY THESE REMAIN

_________________

 

Only these remain

Anatomical remains.

 

Construction

Sites unearth

Disconnected 

Joints.

 

Only these remain

Skeletal remains.

 

Shellmounds disturbed--

Buried no more.

Bagged, tagged & stored

In a file cabinet drawer.

 

Only these remain

Ancestral remains.

 

Evidence that they

Existed here long

Before us others:

Some came as settlers, some as captives.

 

Only these remain

North American remains.

 

The university

Cellar is no place

For 11,000 indigenous

Bones' final rest.

 

Only these remain

Human remains.

 

Crimes of acadaemia

Descendants still grieve

Gestures of dishonour

Ohlone* ghosts won't forgive.

 

__________________________

W: 4.15.16

[ Inspired by the song Bones by RedStar. ]

 

*American Indian nation indigenous to the San Francisco Bay Area.

 

[ From the book Plans, Nomadic Press, 2022. ]