Swimming Upstream

adapted from Jesuits settle NW abuse claims for $166 million

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j3TNNLigAb3qQeVpLaBxiu1MQzAA?docId=e43e04558be646299c55ad8bb8990e7f

Robbed of name

Stripped of clothing

Blankets dyed by grandmothers hands set aflame

Rag dolls ripped from small brown fingers

Braids shorn, scalps shaved to stubble

Doused with kerosene, bathed in lye

Native words ripped from our tongues

We languished in cold barracks, prisoners

In Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana , Alaska

Our holy bodies dirtied by priestly hands

We hungered

For blackberries, duck, rabbit

Longed to be salmon, swimming upstream to

Mother and father

Earth and sky

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j3TNNLigAb3qQeVpLaBxiu1MQzAA?docId=e43e04558be646299c55ad8bb8990e7f

http://www.english.illinois.edu/Maps/poets/a_f/erdrich/boarding/keyissues.htm