Friday, December 08, 2017

Valley of the Gods - Bears Ears



The Valley of the Gods: sacred power resonates in this place, with astounding beauty guarded by countless generations. It is our turn. These lands are in Bears Ears, which is under attack though an illegal presidential proclamation that violates the protections of its monument status, opening the door to toxic extractive industry such as uranium pit mines and coal stripmines. Over 100,000 Native American archeological and cultural sites are here, including the epic petroglyphs at Newspaper Rock in these photos. In order to defend these lands, all photos in this post are available for free under Creative Commons BY-NC license. Please reach out if you need higher quality images. Defend Bears Ears!

The 5 tribes who have stewarded this land for centuries created a ground-breaking coalition to form the monument protections. They are fighting this in the courts, and need support. https://bearsearscoalition.org/

#StandWithBearsEars #DefendNativeLands and #PublicLands #ValleyoftheGods #BearsEars #GrandStaircaseEscalante

Monday, December 04, 2017

I dreamed of thunder beings

I dreamed of thunder beings
striking metal with prayer and seeing
conquistadores flee from Quetzalcoatl.
Awakening I choked on last night’s Coke
and croaked “Hell” from Marlboro’s smell
stuck in my throat.
For every time I failed to speak truth to power
I feel my tongue deaden, my song grow leaden.
For every capitulation to comfort I have taken
I feel my full belly bloat with my craven spirit wake
and
the whole world get more mesmerized by the supersize smiley prize
while we forget how to sing for joy,
how to sob for grief…
as we find no relief in the toys we thieve
as we forget to craft magic from the tragic
and
So we dance, pray and fight.



10/22/16 – Oakland, reflecting on time at Standing Rock