WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.440 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.440 --> 00:00:06.880 align:middle line:84% Well, Kimberly teased out that we have one more treat in store. 00:00:06.880 --> 00:00:08.420 align:middle line:90% And indeed, we do. 00:00:08.420 --> 00:00:11.240 align:middle line:84% So I am going to bring Kimberly back to the stage 00:00:11.240 --> 00:00:16.200 align:middle line:84% and she'll explain what's happening. 00:00:16.200 --> 00:00:17.700 align:middle line:90% OK, this is it. 00:00:17.700 --> 00:00:20.920 align:middle line:84% Have you noticed the flags been flying? 00:00:20.920 --> 00:00:25.640 align:middle line:84% So the Poetry Center has a display 00:00:25.640 --> 00:00:30.840 align:middle line:84% of the 22 flags of the Indigenous nations of Arizona. 00:00:30.840 --> 00:00:33.140 align:middle line:84% And when we were coming and we found that out, 00:00:33.140 --> 00:00:36.920 align:middle line:84% we thought, what if we got a flag 00:00:36.920 --> 00:00:42.640 align:middle line:84% for every nation of our fellows and faculty and visiting 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:43.800 align:middle line:90% writers? 00:00:43.800 --> 00:00:45.280 align:middle line:90% So we did. 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:48.640 align:middle line:84% And you may have seen those flying outside. 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:52.920 align:middle line:84% So we thought a lot about flags this week. 00:00:52.920 --> 00:00:53.500 align:middle line:90% We did. 00:00:53.500 --> 00:00:54.620 align:middle line:90% We held our flags. 00:00:54.620 --> 00:00:56.400 align:middle line:90% We talked about our flags. 00:00:56.400 --> 00:00:59.960 align:middle line:84% We thought about the symbol of the flag, the origin 00:00:59.960 --> 00:01:02.180 align:middle line:90% of the symbol of the flag. 00:01:02.180 --> 00:01:04.940 align:middle line:84% Oops, I think if I go over there, you lose me. 00:01:04.940 --> 00:01:09.900 align:middle line:84% And we also thought about, what did tribes 00:01:09.900 --> 00:01:15.620 align:middle line:84% have before they had the kind of flag that's an oblong? 00:01:15.620 --> 00:01:20.500 align:middle line:84% And we thought about what other things do we hold dear? 00:01:20.500 --> 00:01:27.000 align:middle line:84% And if we were to make a flag, from what would we make it? 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:29.080 align:middle line:90% Or for whom would we make it? 00:01:29.080 --> 00:01:35.220 align:middle line:84% And so we wanted to both think about the symbolism of flag, 00:01:35.220 --> 00:01:41.060 align:middle line:84% perhaps critique that a little bit or a lot, 00:01:41.060 --> 00:01:47.220 align:middle line:84% and then also envision what a flag could be for us. 00:01:47.220 --> 00:01:52.560 align:middle line:84% So all the fellows have written, we created a collaborative poem, 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:55.260 align:middle line:84% and everybody's going to come up and we're 00:01:55.260 --> 00:01:58.060 align:middle line:84% going to read it boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. 00:01:58.060 --> 00:01:59.900 align:middle line:84% So you have to all line up in the order 00:01:59.900 --> 00:02:01.720 align:middle line:90% in which your lines come. 00:02:01.720 --> 00:02:04.640 align:middle line:84% And I will tell you, in case you're wondering: 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:14.560 align:middle line:84% Ofelia, Laura, Chris Hoshnic, Sunni, Mariana, Danielle, 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:26.280 align:middle line:84% Pomaika'i, Christopher, Robert, Selene, Anna, me, Kentaro, 00:02:26.280 --> 00:02:33.440 align:middle line:90% Halee, Max, Anthony, and Rob. 00:02:33.440 --> 00:02:39.277 align:middle line:84% And then what we're going to do is, first of all, where is-- 00:02:39.277 --> 00:02:40.860 align:middle line:84% I just want to make sure I'm standing. 00:02:40.860 --> 00:02:42.840 align:middle line:90% I'm standing by-- 00:02:42.840 --> 00:02:47.100 align:middle line:84% I'm finding by after Anna, before Kentaro. 00:02:47.100 --> 00:02:47.840 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:50.400 align:middle line:90% So here it is. 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:53.400 align:middle line:84% We're going to-- it's called-- guess what it's called? 00:02:53.400 --> 00:02:55.000 align:middle line:90% Flag Song. 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:58.960 align:middle line:84% In tribal nations for powwows, we have flag songs 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:01.020 align:middle line:90% and that's how we bring them in. 00:03:01.020 --> 00:03:02.780 align:middle line:90% So that's what this is called. 00:03:02.780 --> 00:03:03.740 align:middle line:90% Ofelia. 00:03:03.740 --> 00:03:10.620 align:middle line:90% 00:03:10.620 --> 00:03:14.340 align:middle line:84% Let's make a flag at the time of creation. 00:03:14.340 --> 00:03:18.620 align:middle line:84% It will be tied with sinew-- and secured with 'ușab. 00:03:18.620 --> 00:03:21.980 align:middle line:84% It will be made of first water and clay. 00:03:21.980 --> 00:03:24.340 align:middle line:90% Clay that becomes us. 00:03:24.340 --> 00:03:27.220 align:middle line:90% It will unfurl in first wind. 00:03:27.220 --> 00:03:33.660 align:middle line:84% And on first night, it will have the stars to guide it. 00:03:33.660 --> 00:03:37.100 align:middle line:84% The nation inside me is a clay pot 00:03:37.100 --> 00:03:42.140 align:middle line:84% that doesn't crack when held to fire. 00:03:42.140 --> 00:03:44.660 align:middle line:84% The nation inside me-- reds, melts, 00:03:44.660 --> 00:03:47.600 align:middle line:84% and fans, burrow in the dirt with calloused hands, 00:03:47.600 --> 00:03:49.060 align:middle line:90% rubbing my lower back. 00:03:49.060 --> 00:03:50.760 align:middle line:90% A whisper across time. 00:03:50.760 --> 00:03:52.160 align:middle line:90% You will be Diné again. 00:03:52.160 --> 00:03:54.860 align:middle line:90% 00:03:54.860 --> 00:03:58.300 align:middle line:84% The nation inside me is glossed in copper tinsel 00:03:58.300 --> 00:04:01.420 align:middle line:84% and turns the eye towards the shedded. 00:04:01.420 --> 00:04:04.680 align:middle line:84% tire carcass blessed in bergamot buds, our glitter lakes 00:04:04.680 --> 00:04:06.600 align:middle line:90% that go strange in the sun. 00:04:06.600 --> 00:04:12.000 align:middle line:84% The rainbow glorious against gravel. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:16.839 align:middle line:84% The nation inside me existed long before its flag. 00:04:16.839 --> 00:04:19.300 align:middle line:84% When I wrap myself in my nation's flag, 00:04:19.300 --> 00:04:22.460 align:middle line:84% I wrap myself in the waters of my homeland. 00:04:22.460 --> 00:04:24.900 align:middle line:84% Our children spread across the land. 00:04:24.900 --> 00:04:29.600 align:middle line:84% Villages become islands, drowning in an ocean of stripes 00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:33.600 align:middle line:84% and stars because a flag cannot contain the journey it took 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:36.680 align:middle line:90% to fly. 00:04:36.680 --> 00:04:40.120 align:middle line:84% I wrap myself in the kitchen radio dripping early morning 00:04:40.120 --> 00:04:42.480 align:middle line:84% Diné bizaad, dripping translation 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:44.840 align:middle line:84% as my thoughts move letters to form something 00:04:44.840 --> 00:04:48.560 align:middle line:90% akin to understanding. 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:51.160 align:middle line:84% When I wrap myself in my nation's flag, 00:04:51.160 --> 00:04:54.680 align:middle line:84% I wrap myself in ocean and fire, torn 00:04:54.680 --> 00:05:02.040 align:middle line:84% from kapa, colors a smell of rain amidst choked kiawe trees. 00:05:02.040 --> 00:05:06.150 align:middle line:84% I wrap myself in shoreline, sea breeze, and sky. 00:05:06.150 --> 00:05:07.750 align:middle line:90% The deep blue of water. 00:05:07.750 --> 00:05:09.590 align:middle line:90% The deep blue of grief. 00:05:09.590 --> 00:05:11.350 align:middle line:84% I fly the flag to remember tongue 00:05:11.350 --> 00:05:16.310 align:middle line:84% of the sun, hands of the Earth, the ocean, our elder, 00:05:16.310 --> 00:05:20.590 align:middle line:90% our future: not forgetting. 00:05:20.590 --> 00:05:23.070 align:middle line:84% When I wrap myself in my nation, I 00:05:23.070 --> 00:05:26.010 align:middle line:84% see my nieces with choke cherry stained hands. 00:05:26.010 --> 00:05:28.190 align:middle line:84% Her aunties cackle at the grocery store, 00:05:28.190 --> 00:05:32.550 align:middle line:84% taste sweet čeyaka made by uŋčí the stardust in my bones 00:05:32.550 --> 00:05:33.610 align:middle line:90% reminds me. 00:05:33.610 --> 00:05:37.270 align:middle line:90% 00:05:37.270 --> 00:05:40.610 align:middle line:84% Before the American flag was áxmi 00:05:40.610 --> 00:05:44.330 align:middle line:84% who breathed deeply, who raised mountains with rigid backs. 00:05:44.330 --> 00:05:47.830 align:middle line:84% Who brought wána through valleys from atáchuush, 00:05:47.830 --> 00:05:51.350 align:middle line:84% who gave the ability to weave baskets, who allowed chíish 00:05:51.350 --> 00:06:00.270 align:middle line:84% to become wána wánasha from spirits back into áxmi. 00:06:00.270 --> 00:06:04.570 align:middle line:84% We are a nation that can't be confined to cloth, 00:06:04.570 --> 00:06:06.730 align:middle line:90% but we will be raised. 00:06:06.730 --> 00:06:12.130 align:middle line:84% So let's make a flag of migizi feathers stored in cedar boxes. 00:06:12.130 --> 00:06:16.890 align:middle line:84% Gift me momentum toward the seventh fire prophecy instead 00:06:16.890 --> 00:06:20.930 align:middle line:90% of the American flag. 00:06:20.930 --> 00:06:25.410 align:middle line:84% Let us make a flag for water nations, 00:06:25.410 --> 00:06:31.010 align:middle line:84% a flag from morning fog rising over rice beds. 00:06:31.010 --> 00:06:37.770 align:middle line:84% From the ripe stalks that wave, gone hands that wave. 00:06:37.770 --> 00:06:41.810 align:middle line:90% A flag of oblong and symbol. 00:06:41.810 --> 00:06:48.890 align:middle line:84% A flag of patriotic fantasy cannot contain distant water 00:06:48.890 --> 00:06:50.170 align:middle line:90% drums. 00:06:50.170 --> 00:06:55.810 align:middle line:84% The shsh, shsh breath of ripe stalks in fall. 00:06:55.810 --> 00:06:59.730 align:middle line:90% The over/under of hair braiding. 00:06:59.730 --> 00:07:07.870 align:middle line:84% The math of flag cannot erase our belonging. 00:07:07.870 --> 00:07:12.790 align:middle line:84% Wool-woven Women: Helen at the base of Black Mesa. 00:07:12.790 --> 00:07:15.710 align:middle line:90% Lily from Monument Valley. 00:07:15.710 --> 00:07:21.070 align:middle line:84% Wring t'ó into clay, squash, and tears. 00:07:21.070 --> 00:07:24.330 align:middle line:90% Then erosion-- of fear. 00:07:24.330 --> 00:07:26.990 align:middle line:90% 00:07:26.990 --> 00:07:30.110 align:middle line:84% I fly for red birds who do not flutter away 00:07:30.110 --> 00:07:33.670 align:middle line:84% from oncoming storms, who know that one day we 00:07:33.670 --> 00:07:36.790 align:middle line:84% will excise all corners from our flags 00:07:36.790 --> 00:07:39.410 align:middle line:90% until only the center is left. 00:07:39.410 --> 00:07:42.630 align:middle line:90% 00:07:42.630 --> 00:07:49.230 align:middle line:84% We have our own flag embroidered with green corn, rain, flowers, 00:07:49.230 --> 00:07:53.190 align:middle line:84% butterflies, and mountains, with embellishments 00:07:53.190 --> 00:08:01.470 align:middle line:84% of eagle and macaw feathers and foxtail [INAUDIBLE] 00:08:01.470 --> 00:08:06.650 align:middle line:84% When I drape my shoulders in this fabric, this azure seal 00:08:06.650 --> 00:08:10.610 align:middle line:84% and cloth of another Minnesota, this veil 00:08:10.610 --> 00:08:13.050 align:middle line:90% is an emblem of my mother. 00:08:13.050 --> 00:08:17.130 align:middle line:84% Her endless obsidian, her northern sky, 00:08:17.130 --> 00:08:20.950 align:middle line:84% her fraction of a sun set long ago. 00:08:20.950 --> 00:08:24.170 align:middle line:90% 00:08:24.170 --> 00:08:29.090 align:middle line:84% I drape myself in latte stones carved from the Earth. 00:08:29.090 --> 00:08:31.950 align:middle line:84% In the åcho' atupat in a warrior's sling, 00:08:31.950 --> 00:08:37.450 align:middle line:84% I drape myself in a sky that burns so bright it might become 00:08:37.450 --> 00:08:39.289 align:middle line:90% a flag of its own. 00:08:39.289 --> 00:08:41.409 align:middle line:90% Thank you so much, everybody. 00:08:41.409 --> 00:08:45.890 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:08:45.890 --> 00:08:47.670 align:middle line:84% And thank you so much for being here. 00:08:47.670 --> 00:08:50.790 align:middle line:84% Give it up for all of these amazing poets. 00:08:50.790 --> 00:08:53.450 align:middle line:84% Did I not say Indigenous excellence? 00:08:53.450 --> 00:08:54.690 align:middle line:90% Give it up. 00:08:54.690 --> 00:08:55.910 align:middle line:90% Standing ovation. 00:08:55.910 --> 00:08:57.150 align:middle line:90% Jumping ovation. 00:08:57.150 --> 00:08:59.270 align:middle line:84% Thank you, everybody, for being here tonight. 00:08:59.270 --> 00:09:01.010 align:middle line:90% Have a wonderful evening. 00:09:01.010 --> 00:09:03.210 align:middle line:84% And thank you to the University of Arizona Poetry 00:09:03.210 --> 00:09:05.480 align:middle line:90% Center for hosting us.