WEBVTT

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This is giving a voice for the
young people in Navajo country.

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"Gish."

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First in Navajo,
then in English.

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[SPEAKING NAVAJO]

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"Fire poker."

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"There, the fire poker lies
still, my mother, my father.

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There used to be fire.

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There used to be water.

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There used to be food.

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There used to be
sheepskin bedding.

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My mother, my father.

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The hard floor is killing me.

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Hunger is killing me.

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Thirst is killing me.

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The cold is killing me.

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My mother, my father.

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There, the fire
poker still lies.

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Please pick it up again.

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My mother, my father."

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I just finished
reading a book by--

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I forget the name of the author.

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But it's called, The
Child Called "It"

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and then The Lost Boy.

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We have a lot of young
people who need help.

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And it's also true
in Navajo country.

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We do have a
beautiful philosophy.

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We do have beautiful ceremonies.

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We do have beautiful country.

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But we still have people,
young people, who need help.

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And sometimes, as a
poet and as a writer,

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I do need to speak up for the
young people to give voice

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to those who cannot
voice their concerns.

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This is very moving for me
because I lost two brothers

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to alcohol, killed
in a car accident.

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So I do what I need to
do through my writing

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to address these issues.

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In these situations, we
look back to history, back

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to the times of our ancestors,
when they faced danger

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and exhibited great courage.

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So the next poem is titled, "An
Acceptance of a Certain Death."

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"In the heat of Northern
Arizona plateaus,

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you glanced back
over your shoulder,

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taking one last look at hungry
crows gliding down in spirals

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to descend on the
child we left behind,

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under the shade of a
sagebrush in the dry gully.

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You choked on your dreams
of raising healthy children.

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You tasted the salt
of your own tears.

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Then you strided into
the Western desert.

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Know that somewhere
in that empty vastness

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is the father of your children,
the laughter of your children

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as you moved further West.

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Sun Carrier glared.

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Each day I travel, I
will take a life with me.

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Changing Woman heard.

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I thought of you.

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She started rubbing her body."

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Every time I feel that I'm
stuck or I'm frustrated or faced

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with a struggle of some kind,
I always think of my ancestors

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and what they went through,
and the sacrifices they've

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made, the choices they've made.

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I can't imagine choosing to
leave a child behind so that I

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may survive and find those
others who might still

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be running around in the
desert and raise them.

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Those must have been
tough decisions.

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And I constantly ask myself,
what kind of tough decisions

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do I make today to ensure that
the Navajo people will survive,

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to ensure that the
Navajo Nation becomes

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a healthy and better nation?

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I think it would be very easy
for me to leave the reservation

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and make a decent
living, in terms

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of what the Western culture
would consider successful.

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But I choose to remain
on the reservation.

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I choose to continue
to write, to continue

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to write in Navajo, because I
believe that's where I belong.

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