LOOK AT THE WAY THE MOUNTAINS HOLD THE SKY & THE SUN KISSES THE FACE OF THE EARTH & THINK ABOUT WHAT IS BURIED IN A LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

by Kirbie Bennett

When I read you a “land acknowledgement,” I’m saying / first let’s imagine we are sitting on a porch and we are on the side of town where the clouds gather / we are listening to what thunder is saying / the earth’s impossible beauty is holding our sadness and we are asking each other: do you know the story of this place? / we are asking out loud: does this country, this city know the story of itself? / somewhere along the way land was stolen, children were stolen and those crimes were called progress.

When I read you a “land acknowledgement,” I’m saying to you: think about what is buried in a land acknowledgement / I’m telling you this land around us / in so-called durango of so-called colorado / still belongs to the Ute People / look at the way the mountains hold the sky / I mean, this land around us is still tethered to the Jicarilla Apache, the Hopi, the Pueblos of New Mexico and the Diné, my own people / today the land is still stolen, women and children are still missing and those crimes are called the status quo.

When I read you a “land acknowledgement,” I’m saying these borders are chalk outlines /  think about the 1890 census, which recorded 237,196 Native people / a 95 percent reduction / from a population in 1491 that some historians estimate was over 100 million / think about the futures we lose from genocide / think about the death toll behind a land acknowledgement / the death toll is not frozen in time, the death toll rises into the present.