Some words for the week

I’m told there are tipi rings

on the bank of the river

that forms the valley

on the north side of which

I was raised

and on the south side of which

I now live

and light fires in my stove

to fight the cold and the night

and for the reasons

of genocide

and watered down facts

and not wanting to think

about the wars

that clear cut this land of life

less than two hundred years ago

I thought there were never

any Native people here

that it was too high and brutal

for anybody to survive

but now as I drive to work

I see a hidden history

of Arapaho and Ute and Niwot

ghosts in the windblown hills

living by the water

hunting the same elk I do

following the same game trails

over the pine needles and dirt

and I wonder who will

not remember us

or what they will find

of this world we built

on the bones of others

perhaps all that will remain

will be our burned chimneys

or cracking highways

faint as the remnants by the river

an echo of another empire

destined for dust

and on my way home

I pull off the highway

climb into the willows

and stand beside the runoff

spinning down all frigid and clear

towards the plains

where the buffalo once ruled

and I look out over these peaks

and wonder what is to come

like I imagine some kid did too

before the train tracks

and the smoke stacks

in an ancient nation

which ours was built atop of

on even older land

which holds so many stories

and will hold so many more

Alexander Shalom Joseph is a writer from Gilpin County. He is a published author. For more information and to subscribe to Alexander’s Newsletter go to alexandershalomjoseph.com