They Tried to Teach Me History

By Marie Tozier

The parents of these Indian children are ignorant, and know nothing of the value of education.

—John S. Ward, US Indian Agent, 1886

THE
Beginning.
First steps,
Declaring
             What is.
Naming it.
                                                 Oogruk: bearded seal

PARENTS
Defenders.
Teach a child
By example,
By witness.
                                                 Grandfather said,
                                       When a young man comes of age, he
                                       Must learn to hunt.

OF
The Bible says
"And Jesse begat
David the king"
And aren't we all
The sons of Adam?
Each one.

THESE
Right here
            As if,
It was happening today . . .
Wait. 
The schoolteacher
Stands up at City Hall,
Begs for money
To do her job.
Then blames the parents
When she fails.

INDIAN
Alaska Native
Hopi
Déné
Inuk                               the real people.

CHILDREN
Not vessels.
We fill them up
Not understanding,
What's useless
Can't be poured out.
They're drowning.

ARE
Is better than were.
My brother was lost.
And now he's gone.

IGNORANT
Ignorant's another word
For:                                   Why
Can't you do it my way?
Less the guilt.

AND
What follows, after dismissal
Is grief
Disaster
Destruction
                                    Brown faces on the street
                                    Corner, middle of winter,
                                    Waiting for bars to open.

KNOW
The difference between
Life and death
Is the difference
Between the truth
And a lie.
You can't
Take it back.
Not today. Not tomorrow. Forever.

NOTHING
Everything taken away.
Our land
Our ways
Our children
Gone.
                                       Abandoned qasgri, sod house,
                                       Returning to earth.

OF
Tell it to your children,
And let your children
Tell it to their children,
And their children
To the next generation.
                                       Remember

THE
Definite.
Specified by circumstance
Un-needing of
Recognition
Or approval
Or equivocation.
                                       I am enough.

VALUE
What is the fair price
Of happiness?
Can it even be measured?
Unacknowledged injustices
Are wounds left unhealed,
Left to fester
Warm to the touch.

OF
Songs unsung
Hang in the air
            No ears remain
To claim the.
                                       Make them listen.

EDUCATION
Would it matter
If I laid out the process
For cutting seal:
Splitting the carcass
Separating the blubber
From the meat,
Which is dried
In the wind and sun,
Butterflied open
From tail to neck
Meat hung till black
Backbone hacked
Intestines braided
To be cleaned
Water run through them
Water
             To wash away
                         The sin
             Of being.

Copyright Credit: Marie Tozier, "They Tried to Teach Me History" from Open the Dark. Copyright © 2020 by Marie Tozier.  Reprinted by permission of Marie Tozier.
Source: Open the Dark (Boreal Books, 2020)