I think I'll play these little songs next, because in Conflict
Resolution--
I got asked a question today about a student.
Because in this book, I have these little riffs.
And I said, well, they're really, like, saxophone riffs.
And then the question was, yeah, but what
does jazz and blues have to do with Native people?
And I said, well, I'm working on a musical now actually.
I didn't say that.
About restoring Native people to the story of blues and jazz,
because it was born in the Southeast,
Congo Square, which was considered
one of the birthplace-- kind of the navel point
birthplace of blues and jazz was a Muskogean village.
So there, there it is.
And yet, we have not been included in that story.
And I've been researching for a long time.
And people will stand right up to the edge
and say, OK, Charley Patton was Choctaw,
and he was born right there in Choctaw country.
But they won't say, well, if you listen to our music,
you'll hear the blues, it's there.
So anyway, I didn't say all that in class though.
But I was thinking about it after that question,
and thinking, in our ceremonial grounds,
you can see, they let the people out, the African people out,
on Sundays.
And they came over.
Oh, there's other Native people.
Come on over here with us and hang out.
Well, this is what we do.
This is how we sing.
You know?
There's a lot of sharing that went on.
And I was thinking about how in our songs
at the ceremonial grounds, that those songs have a lot
to do with connecting us to the Earth and making our space,
talking about our relationship.
It's all plant related.
All of those songs are related to the plants.
So these little jazz riffs are related
to what we're talking about.
I'm going to see how it goes.
Horns go flat when they get cold.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Humans were created by mistake.
Someone laughed, and we came crawling out.
That was the beginning of the story.
We were hooked then.
What a wild dilemma, how to make it to the stars on a highway
slick with fear.
When I awoke from a 40-year sleep, it was by a song.
I could hear the drums in the village.
I felt the sweat of ancestors in each palm.
The singers were singing the world into place,
even as it continued to fall apart.
They were making songs to turn hatred into love.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I need a page turner up here.
Yeah.
This is only one of many worlds.
Worlds are beings, each with their own themes,
rules, and ways of doing.
Humans in this world fall too easily to war,
are quick to take offense and claim ownership.
"What drama," said Crow, dodging traffic
as he wrestled with a piece of roadkill.
Where we lived, the settlers built their houses.
Where we drew fresh water, the oil companies sucked oil.
Where deer ran in countless numbers, we have a new mall.
Where the healing plants thrived, the river is burning.
Now a fence cuts the road home.
Next, the sky will be tethered and we will pay for air.
Midnight is a horn player warmed up tight for the last set.
1:00 AM is a drummer who knows how to lay it sweet.
2:00 AM is a guitar player who is down on his luck.
3:00 AM is a bass player who is walking
the floor crazy for you.
4:00 AM is a singer in silk who will do anything for love.
5:00 AM is kept for the birds.
6:00 AM is the cleaning crew smoking cigarettes
while they wait for the door to open.
7:00 AM we're having breakfast at the diner that never closes.
8:00 AM and we shut it down, though the clock keeps
running all through the town.
"When I walk over to join you in the 2-step,
you'd better say yes," the old woman told Death.
And Death laughed.
For her, Death was a fine looking native man.
He wore old style buckskin.
She took his arm.
He was a good dancer.
They 2-stepped all the way to the end of the circle
of this Earth fire.
The day went on as it always had,
though we fought the government's
troops in that crook of the river that
had given us much pleasure.
The sun kept moving, as did the clouds.
The birds were, however, silent.
They could not comprehend the violence of humans.
Everyone comes into this world with a job to do.
I don't mean working for a company, a corporation.
We were all given gifts to share,
even the animals, even the plants, the minerals,
the clouds.
All beings.
[MUSIC PLAYING]