Still Standin’ on the Land
by Tashunka Raven
There is a river, call it Pit River with celebrations,
at great Mount Shasta’s eastern foothills;
Home of the legitimate Pit River Nation,
who’ve done justice to Captain Jack’s heroic will.
They’ve survived the “Pit River Rangers” and “Buckskin Men”,
PGE and the massacre at Soldier Mountain,
They’re still standin’ on the land at Big Bend,
and drinking from Raymond Lego’s model fountain;
Join hands like we did at Puget Sound and sacred Blue Lake,
and the vic’try at Point Concepcion’s stand,
And o’er the G.O. Road when Medicine Rock was at stake,
they’re still standin’ on the land, still standin’ on the land.
There is a mesa, called sacred Corn Mountain,
where the Zuni Way still reigns supreme in ev’ry heart;
Proud, independent heirs of Popé’s revolutionary fountain,
where the Shalako still dances to the sacred rain gods;
A culture still deep in its aboriginal kivas, clans and roots,
prayer sticks, sacred cornmeal and purification rites;
Deerskin moccasins and leggings instead of Western-styled boots;
never signed a treaty! and the Zuni tongue is still spoken right
Join hands like we did at Puget Sound and sacred Blue Lake,
and the vic’try at Point Concepcion’s stand,
And o’er the G.O. Road when Medicine Rock was at stake, ~
they’re still standin’.on the land, still standin’ on the land.
There is a mountain, called the Smoky Mountains,
where Tsa li’s eastern band of Cherokees still live;
Not even the Tellico Dam or the TVA’s manifestations,
could drive them all from land their goddess Sun did give;
Red and black oaks, sharp-shinned hawks and chickadees,
while still workin’ sacred medicine in the Big Cove Clan;
Jays and sparrows still live with them in harmony,
the Qualla Boundry’s still an ancestral homeland;
Join hands like we did at Puget Sound and sacred Blue Lake,
and the vic’try at Point Concepcion’s stand,
And o’er the G.O. Road when Medicine Rock was at stake,
they’re still standin’ on the land, still standin’ on the land.
Tashunka Raven, also known as McArthur Gunter, AKA Cosmos III, is a published poet and author whose work has appeared in International Poetry Review, Back to the Blanket: A Basically Cherokee Native American Journal, the National Poetry Anthology, and numerous other publications. His short fiction has been published in Akwesasne Notes: A Journal for Native & Natural Peoples and other publications. He is currently working on several volumes of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, and a one-act drama, “The Lakota Satayallah.” He has a diploma in printing from Danville (VA) Community College, a B.A. in Sociology from Norfolk State College, and further studies at Old Dominion University and the Univ. of Virginia. He has worked as an offset printer, construction laborer, school teacher, short-order cook, child-care provider, bindery technician, and dishwasher. He was born in Danville VA and recently moved back there. No photo is available.
