Points of View

By Ishmael Reed

The pioneers and the indians

disagree about a lot of things

for example, the pioneer says that

when you meet a bear in the woods

you should yell at him and if that

doesn't work, you should fell him

The indians say that you should

whisper to him softly and call him by

loving nicknames

No one's bothered to ask the bear

what he thinks

Copyright Credit: Ishmael Reed, "Points of View" from New and Collected Poems. Copyright © 2007 by Ishmael Reed. Reprinted by permission of Lowenstein Associates.

Source: Indivisible: Poems for Social Justice (Norwood House Press, 2013)