#NaPoWriMo 2021 Day 22 : “Shkaakaamikwe (Mother Earth)”

Posted byJennifer PatinoPosted inpoetryTags:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,




Shkaakaamikwe
(Mother Earth)

a beacon beams
a warning
to her brothers
& sisters
because Mother sees
how they’re looking
at the sky
not in wonder & awe
but with greed

look how we treat
our daughters
our women
kiss the ground
beneath their feet
in gratitude
in pleading urgency

oil in her arteries
killing in her fields
what we call useless,
our refuse, littering
over every inch of land
dead of the ocean
washing up on the sand

they want to take it
to our star friends now
Mother cries to them
she’s witnessed
the colonizer’s trend
she’s still gifting us
but we’re abusing her
manipulating her surface
for supposed needs

I believe you are stronger
than us, dear Mother,
but the blows keep coming
the drilling, the scourging
& scouring, the selfish
devouring, the hatred,
the purging for profit
(the prickling of
my skin)

I carry you, Mother,
in pieces, within
in the water
the blood, in all
that I give

if you’re ever only
a memory, will we remember
how you, how we, lived?

forgive us for not
speaking louder
your keepers
became outnumbered
strengthen us
& guide us
to keep fighting for you
you see us, Shkaakaamikwe,
you see all we do

you’re hanging on
& hoping for us, Mother,
to return to the view
we once knew


Published by Jennifer Patino

Poet in Michigan.

17 thoughts on “#NaPoWriMo 2021 Day 22 : “Shkaakaamikwe (Mother Earth)””

  2. A gift on the Original Mother’s Day, but the “oil in her arteries” also evoked the memory of Ladonna Allard and all the work and hope she represented and that carries on. It’s a beautiful piece.

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