Weblog Entry - 11/29/2002: "WHEN I WAS A CHILD I PLAYED WITH THE BOYS by Mary Mackey"

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11/29/2002 "WHEN I WAS A CHILD I PLAYED WITH THE BOYS by Mary Mackey"

Before 1975, Mary Mackey published a volume of poetry "Split Ends" (Ariel), a novel, "Immersion" (Shameless Hussy Press), and the screenplay for the film "Silence" (directed by John Korty). In 1975, she was a writer-in-residence in Women's Studies at California State University, Sacramento and she wrote this poem.

when I was a child
I played with the boys
and (because I was only a girl)
they made me
be
the Indians
my name was Fox Woman
and they hunted me
like dogs
my name was
White Bird
and I flew to escape them
my name was
Last Star
the last
of my people
my name was
Sunset
for they caught me
and burned me
my name was
Won't Talk
for I never
betrayed us
time after time
the boys shot me down
and I came back
Red Witch
wild and chanting
came back
Ghost Dance
came back
Bad Dream
came back
Cant Forget
and Crazy-With-Grief

I know where they went
those boys with their guns
they're still hunting Indians
look
you can see
their names are
Spills Blood
and Kills-Without-Mercy