Dee Allen.

Black Snake Wound

The Lakota prophesy 
Has come to pass  
In our lifetime. 
As any creature 
Bound to the land would, 
A long black snake  
Slithers over turf, 
Then travels underground. 
Below, it steadily travels 
And along the way, 
It gets wounded 
By anything, even by 
Pouring torrential rains 
Falling like a guillotine blade, 
And slowly bleeds 
Ounces of viscera  
Slick, thick and 
Deepest of black. 
Nearby water and land 
Long held sacred 
By their tribal keepers 
Stand to be fouled, 
Corrupted, devoured 
Within a widening dark stain— 
How many times will  
The breeder of that 
Long, monstrous black serpent— 
Enbridge— 
Make the same mistakes 
Before relenting? 
Don't they know pipelines leak?
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​W: 5.24.23                                                                                                                                                                                         [ For Krystal Two Bulls. ]

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Dee Allen.: African-Italian performance poet based in Oakland, California. Active on creative writing & Spoken Word since the early 1990s. Author of 10 books--Boneyard, Unwritten Law, Stormwater, Skeletal Black, Elohi Unitsi, Rusty Gallows: Passages Against Hate, Plans, Crimson Stain, Discovery and his newest, The Mansion--and 82 anthology appearances under his figurative belt so far.