Trading Post

Margaret Lindsay Holton

long knives
short sighs
hours spent
and money lent
trade for skins
and trade for tin
dirty hands
begin again
push and pull for all ones worth
long before we touch the earth
children cry for grain to eat
and mothers lie to rest their feet
long the winters cold will be
huddled in the dream tepee
smoke and booze and beads incite
thoughts of war and winning might
when the spring brings on the thaw
off again to cut the paw
rabbits, rodents, bear and elk
muskrat, moose and beaver pelt
slaughtered now beyond ones need
slaughtered now in name of greed
'til the trading post stands no more
'til all that's left is Nature's floor

2000

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Margaret Lindsay Holton's works copyright © to the author.