HEARD / WORD is a new audio series highlighting compelling voices in poetry and prose. This week poet, sound artist, and 2020-2021
McMaster University & Hamilton Public Library Writer in Residence January Marie Rogers reads “Stay Inspired,” an audio poem set to music.

Music: Flute Sensation / Produced by Adrian Dion Harjo for OvenBakedBeatz.com 

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Stay Inspired

By January Marie Rogers

where is the inspiration
in the argument
show me the creativity
in proving to be
right
for if your side, my side
the right, the wrong,
neglect to come correct
from a spiritual base
then we are finger painting
masterpieces in the air
doomed to disappear

we cannot be touched
by that which we mistrust
and by that which does not
come packed with much vision
stop speaking words to me
not rooted in something
I can imagine, something we can
both see together
stop whoring the
official languages
to sell what nobody wants

secrets of their leadership
will devour them from the inside out
and their skill deficit is beginning
to show busy as mice behind closed doors
manipulating language and law until it says
what they want
the treaty placed over their
glowing hearts is decaying
from the rotten ink it was
written in
they are decedents of liars
and they are paying their ancestor’s
debts today
we see it played out
over a pipeline, with ego shields
and the ridiculous rule of law

I am recycling paper
I am regrowing lettuce and celery
from stumps
I am living on land rightfully won
in war, by my ancestors
and it wasn’t even our war to begin with
no amount of fancy talk
can shake our resolve
or the correlation of Indigenous rights
to hateful racist Canadians’ comments
these negotiations
will wear us all thin
stay inspired

envision the desired end
reconciliation is quite dead
we are walking through
red dress forests
looking forward to
the other side
but my, how far it is to go
past the clear cut
over the pipeline
through disputed protected
nature sanctuaries
onward along polluted rivers
into cemented over cemeteries
of family members we never knew
onto farms where we become
targets shot dead without recourse

I say
stay inspired
I say
stand our ground
I say
laws are different
than justice
I say
fear not
I say
keep painting
masterpieces
of permanence