For Indigenous Peoples Day, we’re celebrating the work of poet and member of Haudenosaunee tribe Eric Gansworth, whose book, A Half-Life of Cardi-Pulmonary Function charts the tensions of those struggling against the norms of the dominant culture with humor, heart and image-laden lines.
Below are excerpts from A Half-Life of Cardi-Pulmonary Function, including some of the art pieces from the book.
The Way Howdy Reveals
In this poem you would think
Howdy was a greeting, like
Something from those old westerns
Where the Indians are defeated
Again and again, no matter
How many of them there are
And how many arrows they have
but you would be wrong, in this poem
Howdy is a man, eighty years old
Begrudging the fact that he gave up
Drinking and smoking and then went on
For longer than he cared to in his new
And improved body, but he does this smiling
As he speaks rapidly, telling us
phrases and words, in Tuscarora, words
He can speak to almost nobody as he is
one of the last fluent speakers, and as the
concept he is teaching us is death, he shows
us the phrase for the Milky Way, the star path
the dead walk for their first year after
leaving us and before they arrive
at their final destination, words on a small piece
of paper, the size of a fortune
cookie fortune and we can barely even read
it, as his pronunciation key is one of his
own design and after we see it for a few
minutes, he takes it away, slides it back
in to the vast darkness of his shirt pocket.
Kodak Moments and Some Without the Flash
These yellowing photos you pass over
the partition glimpse the honesty of
the way your friend refused formal
and orderly studio shots, even as a child
and orderly studio shots, even as a child
in shadow borne of the stern-
looking man I assumed was
her father. And who turned out
to be yours instead, or ditched
the propriety of avoiding being
photographed just this side of belligerent
intoxication but in her desire to fly
to Ireland, see a band you have shared,
trying to convince you
this was a good idea
she captured that passion
for life you have also
reflected, knowing that
she had days to life
and was confident you would remember
those plans and allow that story
to tell her life
with you.