Tattoos in Mayberry
94,819 poems read
open lands.Wild Horses.
Not a gold star route. Through loose lips
City boy makin careless slips
In the pub taking furtive sips
from off sale liquor store ,
endless summer slumping vacation
a stumble is my new dance, My protest march for
this nation apart.
I'm afraid and feel lonely
so I eat twelve courses slowly
after dinners I salad later to push the food through
till I stop eating
and don't further sicken myself
from my toxic culinary ruse..
Sad that I am not Elvis.
Crying because I'm not an Indian and didn't bury my heart at wounded knee.
I saw both the white and the indian sides of the reservation
An open reservation.
Homesteaded in the nineteen thirties.
not far from the Park called Glacier,
clean, clear, mountain, lakes and high peaks
way beyond the deafening din of the big city
Now, they sell nature in a casino,
a familair shell game, fast hustle a minute on the midway
,rent a good timin' halfbred for cheap.
, The real Indian boys, men, and girls living here
have the same questions
and all want to be Elvis or something on television, mostly
Too few living in this paradise
feel they've arrived at their destination
And this is one good reason why the elders are weeping..
Their simple creed is be among us
if your skills are the ones we seek.
There will always be a job
for a good Elvis impersonator
in Indian Country.
But, this Elvis was a little too little, too late
on her reservation,
I didn't captivate and amuse the reservation more than
collecting more carnval glass,
agate beads, sculptures, and hand made flutes.
Here things moved slower until the outside world
polluted this land with casinos and theme parks..
Indian people want to take a step back
but maybe economics tells them to
take hasty short term solutions
Actions they now regret.B
Because working in a casino just to make money doesn't build character.
like struggle to figure out your niche does.
A singer, A poet. A painter a writer.
We need artists, not more black jack dealers.
A step is now being taken to save native tongue
of a worthy and cooperative culture.
a people best when working together...
Traditional ways where on important decisions,
the tribe's elders are closely listened to.
Nobody bullies or is the one final say.
or the one veto vote.
In Browning and now elsewhere,
the tribes are erecting schools that only teach their native tongue.
From the babies up .
Having a sovereign nation to exist must susttain
culture connected by not just the language of their ancesters.
But, gatherings and feeds
and to keep testing
their limits to take back what was stolen or lost.,
There is no perfect system,
their ways are ancient and sacred and it wojuld be
a massacre of their history to be conquered, through toxic proximity
of a criminal act such as to bow down and lose a rich identity to any empire. .
Success is measured by how much service you do
for your brothers and sisters
sons and daughters of your tribe.
The generosity and love you share at long house feeds.
What would an Indian do with 200 billion dollars...
And a question not generally asked
is when is enough, enough...
So, I fell in love with the gentleness, the power, how Native minds snuck up on me
with something profound,
This was when my heart went Indian. I was transformed into Indian.
Call me Skeltemy Man amongst Men..
A white bird moving in harmony
with my other winged brothers .
On the closed Indian reservation.
where just off their appropriated lands
were communities of menonites, and Amish.,
A gated community with no fences
Security check points but without any armed guards.,
no standing fences,pretty much of any kind
anywhere....
Come to Big Indian Country,,
Bring your biggest, best medicine
sit back, watch, listen
shut up unless spoken to
and enjoy the ride..
put greatest thought into your offerring
be kind, and generous
be your authentic self
because they are
and you are a guest in their house.
Don't try to blend in and hide.
You will only look more
strangely exotic and ridiculous
and they'll feel less uncomfortable around you..
I wrote editorials when I couldn't shut up
anymore and attended college
i ;played instrunental music
at their gatherings,.,,
I enjoyed learning from them,.A
After all, I had never been to a sovereign nation
in and around pockets of my parent nation..
I sat in at council meetings
I wrote to the Chairman.
I tried to bring some common sense
another perspective
my outsider vantage point
Sometimes, it was scoffed at
as nonsense from a white man.
Sometimes, what I shared had value
and they gave it due consideration
.
The land is untouched.
Gorgeous, cool, clean.
.Land I felt honored as a,
former big city slicker
to even have seen
Being with my tribal partner
I could travel most anywhere
Stay at national parks for free
Explore their private mountainous places..
She was a mentor, my teacher,
the link and connection
to get me in the door into inner tribal circles.
Her status gave me the spark
to gain my own personal status.
as a writer and often a voice, of reason
they had my permission to print at the Char Koosta
Tribal Newspaper...
.
.
This big country is not for sale.
Clear mountain lakes running high,
and deep into the
Sasquatch, wild country.
Collect Cherries, and berries,
and drink pure, glacial mountain water by the bucketful.
melting snow moving down to the high rocks
You' have to be a tribal member
or be hitched up pretty close to one
to even set foot up here.
The council has the final word
because the council
is wise and they know what is best
for the people of their tribe
And, if they do not
they step down quietly.
and are trained, patiently to do better...
Don't bring your snow mobile .
Free cherries
all you can eat, fill up your buckets
or as long as you can reach up and pick from the trees.
it's another Indian Summer
Put up a fence,
we'll run it down.,
this is wild Buffalo country
High chapparel
Nothing for as far as the eye can see.
With the Elk, and the Moose
I'm running with the clan of the
Sacred Buffalo..
Here, Tribal policeman's law trumps
white cop's law.
Rez van zips through stop light,
car doors swingin wide open,
baby hangin' half in
half our of the car
raisin some cain.
singin songs about drinkin'
and
raising some cain.
No problem. Tribal Police
doesn't even warn you
just suggests you take it home and park it..
The next day after sleeping it off you realize
the cop lives in tribal trust land across the street from you.
His
Auntie, and elder, up the hill
holds court
where we live, as her guests, down below.,
Rez cars, full sized vintage touring sedans
Olds 88's 98's Chevrolet Caprice's.. You may be 100 percent indian
but, you're not a man,,
and this is true in many places
until you drive a car..
Since, you'd die of starvation thirst or get run over if you tried walking everywhere
because eveything is 10 or 15 miles apart.
. 30-40 miles from the next town sometimes up here..
I suppose you could hitch a ride. like I did.
Besides,what do I know about Indian boys becoming men..
Chrysler Imperials
with a three on a tree, transmission
are probably somewhere near or at the top of the food chain
More so than Cadilacs or lincolns,.
It's a rez car, that denotes humbler origins,
that grew into a powerful formidable force to be reckoned with.
I know that big trucks are also prized.
But you can take a nap in an old school imperial
stretch out in comfort.
We drove 40 miles from Browning Montana
To ressuply, in Heart Butte.
.No rock polishing jewelery stores
here. If you look real hard you might find an outlet
store selling saddle gear
for tourists..
there are few if any tame horses here..
Heart Butte Montana, is situated on a flat prairie,
A flagship school was built for their children
where my native wife taught, on assignment, native music and song
Guests like us were temporarily housed next door to the school
in a trailor.home..
I wanted to share with the kids
a piece of me, Maybe my input would
disturb the waters.
Best I be the quiet wasitchu
ambassador.
Be asked to contribute.
I was never asked
so I had a chance to meet
Woody Kipp in Browning
about his immersion school
his tribe was building
he was excited about it
and was eager to answer questions
I wrote down what he said
and back in Heart Butte
I wrote the Char Koosta about
what they were doing on the neighboring
reservation.
The open reservation
With white cops and tribal ones
I wrote my partners tribe
during her music teaching assignment,
According to Woody,
school doesn't have to teach english
Since, the kids will pick it up on the street
It is spoken everywhere.
So, what they are going to do, he said,
is take the babies,
and begin speaking only their native tongue
and maybe their parents will pick it up along the way.
When asked why are you suddenly doing this.
He said, because by the year 2035 Native tongue
will pretty much have died out an extinct language
Without langauage, what value has culture and the rest will soon dissipate
what makes indians special
I added to this, in my letter
what are you, on your reservation waiting for..
The qjuestion screams, do you want your lanaguage to die out
to not have a shaman who can pray with you.
There are very traditional people not just where Woody Kipp
comes from but all over indian country.
I'd like to think I was a small part of why The Salish Kootenai
Reservation now has an immersion school of their own.
and a casino, but you can't always get what you want
which is near but oh so far away from Woody Kipps, Peigani Reservation in the glacie
Love extends to those who have little and need a check
They must be present to get their check
At least the tribe can protect you, on the reservation if you want to act the fool.
It's also a hedge against dumping or surrendering your brother or sister
to the city where they surely will lose their indian identity
through assimilation or desperation.
Plus,poor people don't necessarily have no value.S
Some great people have taken an oath of poverty.
Many have status beyond bank accounts
Many make art, sew, do embroidery, wood work
sculpt, paint, sing, desiring to do as much or as little as possible to make ends meet.,
What it means to be Indian is their profession, Being indian their whole lives
they are good at it and people come from all over the world to marvel at their ceremonies..
They want to live amongst their own. There aren't that many other
natives so that they canget eager
to give them the boot..
There are a few incorrigibles who stay and a few who leave.
or get 86''ed. Generally the hard cases end up in cities,
under bridges.
in bushes or hedges, with a bottle of booze..
The kind of indian I'd see, growing up in Minneapolis.
The little New York. The little apple. they called it.
A city like many others which should be painted green
because if you dont' have money
keep movin'
It was a protest move and an act of defiance,
to get black out drunk and
stumble around the gentry.
It was a risky endeavor.
Don't want to frighten the children, or
the women folks
To a Rez indian, it must have seemed like they landed on the moon
How else, but getting pass out drunk
and whooping it up could a warrior deal with such
a culture shock...
To get an education you of some kind you can bring back to your tribe
to give them a better future. comes in all different packages.
After venturing out and experiencing the outside world ,
many, no matter what the inducements,
can not bring themselves to return to the Rez..
They'd be taking a step back to again be counted,
Some find a good city to shoot all their fireworks off
and die.
A braver death than waiting for your name
to be called at the way Indian Affairs main station
for your townie' check to arrive.
spend it on booze, gambling,
shooting your guns and driving your cars
you are the main attraction,
the screamer at the drive in..
So.,. ,
Far away from the main drag,
the grit of the strip, all the big top city action...
There are no petting zoos or hobby farms in Browning.
There are, however, salvage depots, car part junkyards,
amindst used car lots. Make an offer
pay your price, take
title and car.keys.
Just outside of town you have colonies of Amish
craftsmen, with fine furniture for sale.
See them living simply, and modestly, as they have done for centuries
No accident the proximity of both cultures.
There is a post office, doubling as a western union
next to a fillli ng station make shift bus station
arriving in or departing out once a day..
I doubt the bus runs through Heart Butte.
There is no nuclear power plant within 1000 miles.
City, with a small c.
.Nothing as far as the eye can see.
one of the coldest places registered
in these North lands
In addition to wild horses ,
packs of feral and semi wild
gangs of resevation dogs
and cats,
run roughshot through town
with a pecking order
amongst the them..
No Animal control,
dog catchers,
few if any animal spaying and neutering clinics
Wild country
A free roaming population of sex and ,hunger driven,
stray, townie dogs with a pecking order
running in loose packs.
harsh brutal, often below freezing,
conditions takes more than good luck to survive...
Many animals fold under these challenging conditions.
It isn't unusual for an extra pet store dog
is casually offloaded here to navigate amongst
experienced strays..
The best a dog like that could do is beg at the grocery store,
until they froze to death, starved to death, some form of failure to thrive condition..
I said to my girl
look 'there's a dog and its not moving'
off the sidewalk at the grocery store,
It could be alive,
because what would road kill be doing
on the sidewalk of the piggly wiggly ,
At first glance it looked dead, matted,
and run over.,
I looked closer and his eyes were open.
when I picked it up,
it moved ever so slightly.
Right about then
my gal said
'pick it' up,put it in the back seat;
I feared, by the looks of him,
maybe we were simply going to end up
burying him in the woods
but where there is life,
there is hope. It was worth a try.
,My indian wife said, we're going to save him,
and that was that..
We left the parking lot at the big central chain
grocery store in Browning,
cutting our shopping trip short
Browning is the big city on this Rez.
They have billboards to prove it
advertising restaurant, bars, and hotels,,
We put this half frozen mop
in a blanket
I drove the 40 miles to our trailer
as she held him against her body heat,
when we got there, he was just beginning to thaw out
We gave him a warm bath,
We poured warm water in his mouth.
After a few days, we
were able to feed him.
My girflfriend knew about being forgotten, abused,
abandoned and left to die
I learned every life is precious,
and it was our duty to save his precious life.
At some point he had stopped shivering
His eyes which had been glassy and barely open
were now tracking movement, and
showing less fear, The resignation
we had seen in his eyes,
changed into curiosity
and understanding,
Understanding we were friendlies
Here to give him time to heal
The kind attention he needed to recover.
His luck had turned and inow
he was floating in the warmth of
a deep river,soon to ascend very high up on Cripple Creek.
His eyes darted around, anxious to show us
what an actual 'dog player' he was.
We all played gently with him,even our Rottweiler.
Checking in on him
affectionately head butting and sniffing him
easing his anxiety to have to rush to prove to us
how able and wonderful he was,
, once we got to know him,..
There is nothing but open prairie,In Heart Butte
Nothing out there for miles but the faint curvature of the earth
on either side of the rez road
as far as you can see..
You have to be a member of the tribe or married to one, to live there.
you can work with or for the tribe there,and live in temporary housing,
My natiive singer wife was there on a teaching assignment
as I mentioned, we were
stationed next to the High School in their temporary housing
Unlike my wife, I wasn't raised in the Indian Way
Being green,
I learned you don't ask a Peigani, Indian man, a question like
Hey Chief
what time is it?,
The correct answer from the standpoint of this indian
and exactly what he told me
was
I am not a chief..
The Indians were patience and showed compassionate understanding for my ignorance.
They trusted I'd learn from my position of unknowing.
Here my first lesson was, in the Peigani' tribe's forbidden city.
My job was to keep my eyes open
and my mouth shut.
I got my taste
took my peek.
But, any way you slice it,
they have problems just like the rest of human civilization..
Everywhere on earth
there's conflict, suffering, grief and pain.
They have a flagship centerpiece public school,
This school could be in Connecticut,
The Hollywood Hills,,
or Beacon Street In New Orleans,
a school from anywhere U.S.A
The school was built in your garden variety
big school concept playbook.
Big football field. Baseball field,,tennis courts, Basketball courts
Swimming Pool. Stocked library.
In stark contrast to this collision with modernity,,
This same tribe of Indians who have built another school their
own school., immersion school,, to save native language.
to sustain their rich cultural traditions.
a bold move to offset the creep of english language influences.
corrupting their ancient oral traditions and cultural bonds.
expression of Oral tradition has been given short shrift,
in many places but not here..
Indians winning means cooperation rather than competition, cooperation,
through team work.rather than aspriring
to dog fight for personal best positions on the rankings..
Competitive spirit involves fair play, talent, and raw ability,
always in harmony
with nature. Loving other participants.,
as you would your own teammates.,
In a spirit of good sport,, comraderie and sharing.
Why should ancient bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood
be broken..
I saw how this tribe
dealt with the culture clash
with what they were told
is the way of the future
For a long time Indians have been cautious,
of the next big thing,
and they are hedging their bets,
against that next new thing
blowing up everything..
Keeping a wary eye on
our or anyone's future plans for them
Look around from their federally funded, flagship school
in all directions, horses, deer, elk, beauty,
nature, trees, water
open, wild, free country
It's no accident, the elders put this school on this site to demonstrate
The stark contrast, between the vbrick and mortar school and nature's beauty all around it.
I love how problems are solved here.
The big city school seemed out of place.
But, it was perhaps a balance of the good and the bad
like the touring car, as a
counterpoint for them to travel to other worlds.
while sustaining a separate,
but priceless Native identity.
After all,
History has shown all too painfully it's dangerous
to live in a completely insultated and isolated bubble on Mother Earth
The world keeps getting smaller,and is there ever enough
to learn in this world?.
The elders dont' want their people to get swept away in
The storm of
Big and bigger.
and shinier and newer and
cutting edge madness
Big, cutting edge employs families, working on assembly lines, offices
and factories.
construction workers going big with building big things
creating, security problems and bigger headaches
for clean up crews to mop up
and
food prep workers to make bigger pots
all you can eat fried chicken.
There are alot of kids to feed at any
starship enterprise school. To have your children
boldly go where no young brave has gone before.
seems seductive.
To travel beyond the seen and unseen
boundaries of the sovereignty of their reservation
If you were given a space ship
you too might take it Even if the destination was uncertain..
You can always come home
and tell a cute story about not knowing the risk
of blowing minds, hard drinking in the city....
As for our half dead, frozen rez dog, we found on the curb,in Browning
Montana
As it turned out
some time after
we departed Heart Butte,
to my gal's open, reservation,
Since we already had more than enough dog
with our Rottweiler,
we offered the frozen mop
to the elder woman up the hill.
She was the tribal cop's auntie.
and chief of police's sister.
she said she'd take him
It was a deal made between her and my wife..
I was instructed to leave him
in her garage and shut the garage door behind him.
She was a private person.
and I was an outsider..
Do you know the strangest thing happened
when spring came around
a dead ringer for Lassie
came bounding down our hill and made a bee line
around the fifth wheeler prominently stuck in wet muck in
our front yard,
demonstrating fine collie footwork. Lassie primping Up
and twisting his hips
showing off powerful runners flanks
He sashayed like a Latin dancer through our front door.
We, including our Rottweiller, was too stunned by
the cult of his personality to
do anything but gawk
There he stood, in his golden prime,
proud as a rut rooster.
Behold, the golden child had arrived..
I must admit
if I was a female collie,
I might fall dumbstruck in fools love right there on the spot,
To think this little man had grown into
a survivor
'I showed em', he was telling us
'Momma Cop had schooled him up that hill,
He was on light patrol'.
Back at the station, his corn bread gets double buttered,
and whatever he had to do as chief crime dog
to get over.
Here was perhaps
the best little grifter sheriff
on the rez,
sleek coat, moved like a cat
a master strutting, rutting street hustler
who
gets whatever he wants
by simply striking a pose,
and wagging his tail
livin the easy life..
He feel he came to visit us down to thank us
show us how he was worth saving
and praise us for believing in him..
At first, I barely recognized the mop..
, because over winter things had improved
exponentially for him. From starving and freezing ,
to death on unforgiving pavement,
to the top of the heap,.,
Yes, things were looking up.
having the key to crack
the combination to the safe
holding the heart that
was locked up tight in that old woman
who lived in the big house, up our hill
good,
handsome, surprisingly clever rez dog..
He took himself another once around our house,
,
then promenaded
out our open front door and, back up to Candy Mountain
I imagine that rez runt knows he won
the lottery jackpot
that cold windy winter's day
when we found him.
Not much more than a,
frozen puddle of twisted fur.
half on, half off the curb
in the Piggly Wiggly parking lot
in Browning Montana,.
All rights reserved by author
Buddy Bee Anthony
Not a gold star route. Through loose lips
City boy makin careless slips
In the pub taking furtive sips
from off sale liquor store ,
endless summer slumping vacation
a stumble is my new dance, My protest march for
this nation apart.
I'm afraid and feel lonely
so I eat twelve courses slowly
after dinners I salad later to push the food through
till I stop eating
and don't further sicken myself
from my toxic culinary ruse..
Sad that I am not Elvis.
Crying because I'm not an Indian and didn't bury my heart at wounded knee.
I saw both the white and the indian sides of the reservation
An open reservation.
Homesteaded in the nineteen thirties.
not far from the Park called Glacier,
clean, clear, mountain, lakes and high peaks
way beyond the deafening din of the big city
Now, they sell nature in a casino,
a familair shell game, fast hustle a minute on the midway
,rent a good timin' halfbred for cheap.
, The real Indian boys, men, and girls living here
have the same questions
and all want to be Elvis or something on television, mostly
Too few living in this paradise
feel they've arrived at their destination
And this is one good reason why the elders are weeping..
Their simple creed is be among us
if your skills are the ones we seek.
There will always be a job
for a good Elvis impersonator
in Indian Country.
But, this Elvis was a little too little, too late
on her reservation,
I didn't captivate and amuse the reservation more than
collecting more carnval glass,
agate beads, sculptures, and hand made flutes.
Here things moved slower until the outside world
polluted this land with casinos and theme parks..
Indian people want to take a step back
but maybe economics tells them to
take hasty short term solutions
Actions they now regret.B
Because working in a casino just to make money doesn't build character.
like struggle to figure out your niche does.
A singer, A poet. A painter a writer.
We need artists, not more black jack dealers.
A step is now being taken to save native tongue
of a worthy and cooperative culture.
a people best when working together...
Traditional ways where on important decisions,
the tribe's elders are closely listened to.
Nobody bullies or is the one final say.
or the one veto vote.
In Browning and now elsewhere,
the tribes are erecting schools that only teach their native tongue.
From the babies up .
Having a sovereign nation to exist must susttain
culture connected by not just the language of their ancesters.
But, gatherings and feeds
and to keep testing
their limits to take back what was stolen or lost.,
There is no perfect system,
their ways are ancient and sacred and it wojuld be
a massacre of their history to be conquered, through toxic proximity
of a criminal act such as to bow down and lose a rich identity to any empire. .
Success is measured by how much service you do
for your brothers and sisters
sons and daughters of your tribe.
The generosity and love you share at long house feeds.
What would an Indian do with 200 billion dollars...
And a question not generally asked
is when is enough, enough...
So, I fell in love with the gentleness, the power, how Native minds snuck up on me
with something profound,
This was when my heart went Indian. I was transformed into Indian.
Call me Skeltemy Man amongst Men..
A white bird moving in harmony
with my other winged brothers .
On the closed Indian reservation.
where just off their appropriated lands
were communities of menonites, and Amish.,
A gated community with no fences
Security check points but without any armed guards.,
no standing fences,pretty much of any kind
anywhere....
Come to Big Indian Country,,
Bring your biggest, best medicine
sit back, watch, listen
shut up unless spoken to
and enjoy the ride..
put greatest thought into your offerring
be kind, and generous
be your authentic self
because they are
and you are a guest in their house.
Don't try to blend in and hide.
You will only look more
strangely exotic and ridiculous
and they'll feel less uncomfortable around you..
I wrote editorials when I couldn't shut up
anymore and attended college
i ;played instrunental music
at their gatherings,.,,
I enjoyed learning from them,.A
After all, I had never been to a sovereign nation
in and around pockets of my parent nation..
I sat in at council meetings
I wrote to the Chairman.
I tried to bring some common sense
another perspective
my outsider vantage point
Sometimes, it was scoffed at
as nonsense from a white man.
Sometimes, what I shared had value
and they gave it due consideration
.
The land is untouched.
Gorgeous, cool, clean.
.Land I felt honored as a,
former big city slicker
to even have seen
Being with my tribal partner
I could travel most anywhere
Stay at national parks for free
Explore their private mountainous places..
She was a mentor, my teacher,
the link and connection
to get me in the door into inner tribal circles.
Her status gave me the spark
to gain my own personal status.
as a writer and often a voice, of reason
they had my permission to print at the Char Koosta
Tribal Newspaper...
.
.
This big country is not for sale.
Clear mountain lakes running high,
and deep into the
Sasquatch, wild country.
Collect Cherries, and berries,
and drink pure, glacial mountain water by the bucketful.
melting snow moving down to the high rocks
You' have to be a tribal member
or be hitched up pretty close to one
to even set foot up here.
The council has the final word
because the council
is wise and they know what is best
for the people of their tribe
And, if they do not
they step down quietly.
and are trained, patiently to do better...
Don't bring your snow mobile .
Free cherries
all you can eat, fill up your buckets
or as long as you can reach up and pick from the trees.
it's another Indian Summer
Put up a fence,
we'll run it down.,
this is wild Buffalo country
High chapparel
Nothing for as far as the eye can see.
With the Elk, and the Moose
I'm running with the clan of the
Sacred Buffalo..
Here, Tribal policeman's law trumps
white cop's law.
Rez van zips through stop light,
car doors swingin wide open,
baby hangin' half in
half our of the car
raisin some cain.
singin songs about drinkin'
and
raising some cain.
No problem. Tribal Police
doesn't even warn you
just suggests you take it home and park it..
The next day after sleeping it off you realize
the cop lives in tribal trust land across the street from you.
His
Auntie, and elder, up the hill
holds court
where we live, as her guests, down below.,
Rez cars, full sized vintage touring sedans
Olds 88's 98's Chevrolet Caprice's.. You may be 100 percent indian
but, you're not a man,,
and this is true in many places
until you drive a car..
Since, you'd die of starvation thirst or get run over if you tried walking everywhere
because eveything is 10 or 15 miles apart.
. 30-40 miles from the next town sometimes up here..
I suppose you could hitch a ride. like I did.
Besides,what do I know about Indian boys becoming men..
Chrysler Imperials
with a three on a tree, transmission
are probably somewhere near or at the top of the food chain
More so than Cadilacs or lincolns,.
It's a rez car, that denotes humbler origins,
that grew into a powerful formidable force to be reckoned with.
I know that big trucks are also prized.
But you can take a nap in an old school imperial
stretch out in comfort.
We drove 40 miles from Browning Montana
To ressuply, in Heart Butte.
.No rock polishing jewelery stores
here. If you look real hard you might find an outlet
store selling saddle gear
for tourists..
there are few if any tame horses here..
Heart Butte Montana, is situated on a flat prairie,
A flagship school was built for their children
where my native wife taught, on assignment, native music and song
Guests like us were temporarily housed next door to the school
in a trailor.home..
I wanted to share with the kids
a piece of me, Maybe my input would
disturb the waters.
Best I be the quiet wasitchu
ambassador.
Be asked to contribute.
I was never asked
so I had a chance to meet
Woody Kipp in Browning
about his immersion school
his tribe was building
he was excited about it
and was eager to answer questions
I wrote down what he said
and back in Heart Butte
I wrote the Char Koosta about
what they were doing on the neighboring
reservation.
The open reservation
With white cops and tribal ones
I wrote my partners tribe
during her music teaching assignment,
According to Woody,
school doesn't have to teach english
Since, the kids will pick it up on the street
It is spoken everywhere.
So, what they are going to do, he said,
is take the babies,
and begin speaking only their native tongue
and maybe their parents will pick it up along the way.
When asked why are you suddenly doing this.
He said, because by the year 2035 Native tongue
will pretty much have died out an extinct language
Without langauage, what value has culture and the rest will soon dissipate
what makes indians special
I added to this, in my letter
what are you, on your reservation waiting for..
The qjuestion screams, do you want your lanaguage to die out
to not have a shaman who can pray with you.
There are very traditional people not just where Woody Kipp
comes from but all over indian country.
I'd like to think I was a small part of why The Salish Kootenai
Reservation now has an immersion school of their own.
and a casino, but you can't always get what you want
which is near but oh so far away from Woody Kipps, Peigani Reservation in the glacie
Love extends to those who have little and need a check
They must be present to get their check
At least the tribe can protect you, on the reservation if you want to act the fool.
It's also a hedge against dumping or surrendering your brother or sister
to the city where they surely will lose their indian identity
through assimilation or desperation.
Plus,poor people don't necessarily have no value.S
Some great people have taken an oath of poverty.
Many have status beyond bank accounts
Many make art, sew, do embroidery, wood work
sculpt, paint, sing, desiring to do as much or as little as possible to make ends meet.,
What it means to be Indian is their profession, Being indian their whole lives
they are good at it and people come from all over the world to marvel at their ceremonies..
They want to live amongst their own. There aren't that many other
natives so that they canget eager
to give them the boot..
There are a few incorrigibles who stay and a few who leave.
or get 86''ed. Generally the hard cases end up in cities,
under bridges.
in bushes or hedges, with a bottle of booze..
The kind of indian I'd see, growing up in Minneapolis.
The little New York. The little apple. they called it.
A city like many others which should be painted green
because if you dont' have money
keep movin'
It was a protest move and an act of defiance,
to get black out drunk and
stumble around the gentry.
It was a risky endeavor.
Don't want to frighten the children, or
the women folks
To a Rez indian, it must have seemed like they landed on the moon
How else, but getting pass out drunk
and whooping it up could a warrior deal with such
a culture shock...
To get an education you of some kind you can bring back to your tribe
to give them a better future. comes in all different packages.
After venturing out and experiencing the outside world ,
many, no matter what the inducements,
can not bring themselves to return to the Rez..
They'd be taking a step back to again be counted,
Some find a good city to shoot all their fireworks off
and die.
A braver death than waiting for your name
to be called at the way Indian Affairs main station
for your townie' check to arrive.
spend it on booze, gambling,
shooting your guns and driving your cars
you are the main attraction,
the screamer at the drive in..
So.,. ,
Far away from the main drag,
the grit of the strip, all the big top city action...
There are no petting zoos or hobby farms in Browning.
There are, however, salvage depots, car part junkyards,
amindst used car lots. Make an offer
pay your price, take
title and car.keys.
Just outside of town you have colonies of Amish
craftsmen, with fine furniture for sale.
See them living simply, and modestly, as they have done for centuries
No accident the proximity of both cultures.
There is a post office, doubling as a western union
next to a fillli ng station make shift bus station
arriving in or departing out once a day..
I doubt the bus runs through Heart Butte.
There is no nuclear power plant within 1000 miles.
City, with a small c.
.Nothing as far as the eye can see.
one of the coldest places registered
in these North lands
In addition to wild horses ,
packs of feral and semi wild
gangs of resevation dogs
and cats,
run roughshot through town
with a pecking order
amongst the them..
No Animal control,
dog catchers,
few if any animal spaying and neutering clinics
Wild country
A free roaming population of sex and ,hunger driven,
stray, townie dogs with a pecking order
running in loose packs.
harsh brutal, often below freezing,
conditions takes more than good luck to survive...
Many animals fold under these challenging conditions.
It isn't unusual for an extra pet store dog
is casually offloaded here to navigate amongst
experienced strays..
The best a dog like that could do is beg at the grocery store,
until they froze to death, starved to death, some form of failure to thrive condition..
I said to my girl
look 'there's a dog and its not moving'
off the sidewalk at the grocery store,
It could be alive,
because what would road kill be doing
on the sidewalk of the piggly wiggly ,
At first glance it looked dead, matted,
and run over.,
I looked closer and his eyes were open.
when I picked it up,
it moved ever so slightly.
Right about then
my gal said
'pick it' up,put it in the back seat;
I feared, by the looks of him,
maybe we were simply going to end up
burying him in the woods
but where there is life,
there is hope. It was worth a try.
,My indian wife said, we're going to save him,
and that was that..
We left the parking lot at the big central chain
grocery store in Browning,
cutting our shopping trip short
Browning is the big city on this Rez.
They have billboards to prove it
advertising restaurant, bars, and hotels,,
We put this half frozen mop
in a blanket
I drove the 40 miles to our trailer
as she held him against her body heat,
when we got there, he was just beginning to thaw out
We gave him a warm bath,
We poured warm water in his mouth.
After a few days, we
were able to feed him.
My girflfriend knew about being forgotten, abused,
abandoned and left to die
I learned every life is precious,
and it was our duty to save his precious life.
At some point he had stopped shivering
His eyes which had been glassy and barely open
were now tracking movement, and
showing less fear, The resignation
we had seen in his eyes,
changed into curiosity
and understanding,
Understanding we were friendlies
Here to give him time to heal
The kind attention he needed to recover.
His luck had turned and inow
he was floating in the warmth of
a deep river,soon to ascend very high up on Cripple Creek.
His eyes darted around, anxious to show us
what an actual 'dog player' he was.
We all played gently with him,even our Rottweiler.
Checking in on him
affectionately head butting and sniffing him
easing his anxiety to have to rush to prove to us
how able and wonderful he was,
, once we got to know him,..
There is nothing but open prairie,In Heart Butte
Nothing out there for miles but the faint curvature of the earth
on either side of the rez road
as far as you can see..
You have to be a member of the tribe or married to one, to live there.
you can work with or for the tribe there,and live in temporary housing,
My natiive singer wife was there on a teaching assignment
as I mentioned, we were
stationed next to the High School in their temporary housing
Unlike my wife, I wasn't raised in the Indian Way
Being green,
I learned you don't ask a Peigani, Indian man, a question like
Hey Chief
what time is it?,
The correct answer from the standpoint of this indian
and exactly what he told me
was
I am not a chief..
The Indians were patience and showed compassionate understanding for my ignorance.
They trusted I'd learn from my position of unknowing.
Here my first lesson was, in the Peigani' tribe's forbidden city.
My job was to keep my eyes open
and my mouth shut.
I got my taste
took my peek.
But, any way you slice it,
they have problems just like the rest of human civilization..
Everywhere on earth
there's conflict, suffering, grief and pain.
They have a flagship centerpiece public school,
This school could be in Connecticut,
The Hollywood Hills,,
or Beacon Street In New Orleans,
a school from anywhere U.S.A
The school was built in your garden variety
big school concept playbook.
Big football field. Baseball field,,tennis courts, Basketball courts
Swimming Pool. Stocked library.
In stark contrast to this collision with modernity,,
This same tribe of Indians who have built another school their
own school., immersion school,, to save native language.
to sustain their rich cultural traditions.
a bold move to offset the creep of english language influences.
corrupting their ancient oral traditions and cultural bonds.
expression of Oral tradition has been given short shrift,
in many places but not here..
Indians winning means cooperation rather than competition, cooperation,
through team work.rather than aspriring
to dog fight for personal best positions on the rankings..
Competitive spirit involves fair play, talent, and raw ability,
always in harmony
with nature. Loving other participants.,
as you would your own teammates.,
In a spirit of good sport,, comraderie and sharing.
Why should ancient bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood
be broken..
I saw how this tribe
dealt with the culture clash
with what they were told
is the way of the future
For a long time Indians have been cautious,
of the next big thing,
and they are hedging their bets,
against that next new thing
blowing up everything..
Keeping a wary eye on
our or anyone's future plans for them
Look around from their federally funded, flagship school
in all directions, horses, deer, elk, beauty,
nature, trees, water
open, wild, free country
It's no accident, the elders put this school on this site to demonstrate
The stark contrast, between the vbrick and mortar school and nature's beauty all around it.
I love how problems are solved here.
The big city school seemed out of place.
But, it was perhaps a balance of the good and the bad
like the touring car, as a
counterpoint for them to travel to other worlds.
while sustaining a separate,
but priceless Native identity.
After all,
History has shown all too painfully it's dangerous
to live in a completely insultated and isolated bubble on Mother Earth
The world keeps getting smaller,and is there ever enough
to learn in this world?.
The elders dont' want their people to get swept away in
The storm of
Big and bigger.
and shinier and newer and
cutting edge madness
Big, cutting edge employs families, working on assembly lines, offices
and factories.
construction workers going big with building big things
creating, security problems and bigger headaches
for clean up crews to mop up
and
food prep workers to make bigger pots
all you can eat fried chicken.
There are alot of kids to feed at any
starship enterprise school. To have your children
boldly go where no young brave has gone before.
seems seductive.
To travel beyond the seen and unseen
boundaries of the sovereignty of their reservation
If you were given a space ship
you too might take it Even if the destination was uncertain..
You can always come home
and tell a cute story about not knowing the risk
of blowing minds, hard drinking in the city....
As for our half dead, frozen rez dog, we found on the curb,in Browning
Montana
As it turned out
some time after
we departed Heart Butte,
to my gal's open, reservation,
Since we already had more than enough dog
with our Rottweiler,
we offered the frozen mop
to the elder woman up the hill.
She was the tribal cop's auntie.
and chief of police's sister.
she said she'd take him
It was a deal made between her and my wife..
I was instructed to leave him
in her garage and shut the garage door behind him.
She was a private person.
and I was an outsider..
Do you know the strangest thing happened
when spring came around
a dead ringer for Lassie
came bounding down our hill and made a bee line
around the fifth wheeler prominently stuck in wet muck in
our front yard,
demonstrating fine collie footwork. Lassie primping Up
and twisting his hips
showing off powerful runners flanks
He sashayed like a Latin dancer through our front door.
We, including our Rottweiller, was too stunned by
the cult of his personality to
do anything but gawk
There he stood, in his golden prime,
proud as a rut rooster.
Behold, the golden child had arrived..
I must admit
if I was a female collie,
I might fall dumbstruck in fools love right there on the spot,
To think this little man had grown into
a survivor
'I showed em', he was telling us
'Momma Cop had schooled him up that hill,
He was on light patrol'.
Back at the station, his corn bread gets double buttered,
and whatever he had to do as chief crime dog
to get over.
Here was perhaps
the best little grifter sheriff
on the rez,
sleek coat, moved like a cat
a master strutting, rutting street hustler
who
gets whatever he wants
by simply striking a pose,
and wagging his tail
livin the easy life..
He feel he came to visit us down to thank us
show us how he was worth saving
and praise us for believing in him..
At first, I barely recognized the mop..
, because over winter things had improved
exponentially for him. From starving and freezing ,
to death on unforgiving pavement,
to the top of the heap,.,
Yes, things were looking up.
having the key to crack
the combination to the safe
holding the heart that
was locked up tight in that old woman
who lived in the big house, up our hill
good,
handsome, surprisingly clever rez dog..
He took himself another once around our house,
,
then promenaded
out our open front door and, back up to Candy Mountain
I imagine that rez runt knows he won
the lottery jackpot
that cold windy winter's day
when we found him.
Not much more than a,
frozen puddle of twisted fur.
half on, half off the curb
in the Piggly Wiggly parking lot
in Browning Montana,.
All rights reserved by author
Buddy Bee Anthony
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Rez Dogs and Second Chances.
Rez Dogs and Second Chances.