This is a kind of a found poem.
It's called "Not Because of Any Objections,"
and it's taken from a letter written
by the former superintendent of the Fort Mojave boarding
school, which was the boarding school on my reservation, which
is where some of my relatives and my teachers were.
And it was written by Superintendent [? Sam ?]
McCowan to a former student who they then called Pete Lambert.
But his name to us was Homoseh.
And he was our last great chief.
And this is an exact quote from the letter
that the superintendent wrote to this young man who
had become chief.
And at that point in time, the chief had been diminished
and was under the control of the United States Army slash
government.
I can remember when I first took you in the Fort Mojave school.
And what a time I had in cutting your hair for the first time.
I can see now all the old Mojave women standing
around crying while you covered your long hair with your arms
and told me that I wouldn't dare to cut that hair off.
But the hair was cut in spite of all your efforts
and the direful predictions of the Mojave women.
I compelled you to have your hair cut off,
not because of any objections to the long hair in itself,
but merely because the long hair was a symbol of savagery.
And the part that gets me most about that,
is that this man is doubting the direful predictions
that the Mojave women made of what would come of cutting
this young man's hair.