Standing at the Stairs: A Poem of Native Dance and Colonization

Note: This poem began as a graduate workshop assignment and has evolved as a response to a past conversation about native dance. This is one draft of this poem. The process of creating and posting this poem has been a healing, cathartic process for me and I hope that it is meaningful to others.

Additional Note: An audio of a reading of this poem is forthcoming.

Standing at the Stairs

1

D-Con is made of wheat,

but the devil hides in wholesomeness,

permeating good things, so that we may eat

and be destroyed.

…tell me, my child….

….is a dance worth the price of your soul?

2

An eon spent

living with the land,

habitating under sod,

eating together on the floor,

telling stories by the light of the naniq.

Dancing. And dancing. And dancing.

Then they came with weapons of paper.

3

Let us free you.

Here is bread for your table

and soap for your tongue.

Here is a skirt for your legs

and a fire for your drum.

Come to the fire, my sweet sister…

4

The land is ‘theirs’ now.

Living above ground,

eating at prescribed times on a wood slab,

reading the holiness by lantern light,

praying to be less sinful.

The light, the light.

5

That spirit that is with you

is the Evil One.

Only he can cause you to move in such ways.

Only he can turn your feet and bend your knees.

The drum is his heartbeat.

Your language is his breath.

Be still my child.

6

No sir, those ancient spirits

do not talk to us anymore,

because we live in the light now,

and drink pepsi and eat pilot bread.

7

We saved you so that

you may once again live, 

once again dwell in your culture

(with our approval)

you’re welcome

8

Tuunġaġa doubts him.

Tuunġaaq, he is looking at me.

Tuunġaaŋ, ikayuŋŋa.

Friend, let me cleanse your soul.

Ya-iay-yang-ia

You are in darkness.

Ya-iay-yang-ia

Heed my teachings…

Aiy-ia-yang-ia

…partake…no more…

Aiy-ia-yang-ia

Aiy-ia-yang-ia

Aiy-ia-yang-ia

A Dance in Noorvik, 2010

 

I came across this video while searching for Iñupiaq dance videos to annotate with content. You probably don’t know/remember that Noorvik was the first town to be counted in the 2010 census, which is the occasion that this man performed for.  Another reason I chose this video is because it marks the first time native dance was accepted, taught and performed in my village.

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