WEBVTT

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This poem is about my great
uncle, my grandmother's

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little brother, Bitsilí [?

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Pubby ?].

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He was hit by a white woman and
nothing was ever done about it.

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And the intergenerational trauma
of alcoholism is also woven in.

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Lily became a black
cloud sheep, 2010.

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Without [? ts'in ?],
without [? ts'in ?]

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Grandma's fingers streamed
down calloused rock skin

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like arroyo ghost.

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Varnish.

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Ashkíí diigis as I remember,
Mickey's in his last

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Without [? ts'in ?],
without [? ts'in ?]

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Grandma's fingers kiss
sand for sink mud to rug,

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Tug ashkíí diigis from ripping
into her last woven rug

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1975.

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Dig, dig, dig, dig

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Lily, behind the loom,
packs black sheep yarn

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to weave Bitsilí [?

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Pubby ?] into her pictorial rug

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Jokes about not having
to die, this one

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Save me some time, she says

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Dig, dig, dig, dig

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Lily in front of a meadow jail
loom in Farmington, New Mexico.

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Wore her church coral
forward past the guards,

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But still, Bitsilí [?

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Pubby ?] walked out with
his tail between his legs

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Cost me my dime, she says

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Dig, dig dig dig

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1989.

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Lily, beneath her
headscarf, spindle in hand,

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Never chooses night wool again
with crusty dough in hand

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Háájí?

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Háájí?

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Háájí, shitsilí?

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she says.

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Shhh, shhh!

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Came the static from KTNN,
the voice of the Navajo Nation

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Lily finds Bitsilí [?

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Pubby ?] in the radio waves

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Silver Dennehotso rodeo
buckle, white tie-dye shirt

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with an orange cat

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Black cowboy hat and freshly
shaved, they say, shhh, shhh!

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Lily's soul was
mighty for seven days

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Bitsilí [? Pubby ?] was
found on the side of the road

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in Kirtland, New Mexico

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Was hit by a white woman as
if he was just a stray dog

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A 30 minute inconvenience
for her, parked her Suburban

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and opened a can of peas,

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Carved a chicken and ignored the
carcass's injustice broadcasted

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Shhh, shhh!

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2010 again

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With {? ts'in ?],
with [? ts'in ?].

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atones for his, but can
barely form a sen-ten-sss

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And grandma Lily
became a black cloud.

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Sheep

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Swells in the sky before
ashkíí goes diigis

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Brings the rain for ashkíí
to remember he still has [?

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ts'in, ts'in ?]

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Grandma Lily became
a black cloud sheep

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for ashkíí diigis
and Bitsilí carcass.

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Drunks still need
their tó, she says.

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[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]

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