Khalilahs Kahluau

it ain’t natural to be alone

we weren’t built to lie with ease

tend gardens

and long empty nights

we were made with barefeet

to callus over flat land in pursuit

of homesteads to raise cattle

and unruly children

weekends on nude beaches, making blankets out of sand

or maybe a vineyard where the sun is a ripe, uncorked merlot and all your unmet desires,

inebriation by dusk are not only welcome,

but encouraged

ankle deep in tide pools

laughing,

monuments,

waste and chance

Every single Native culture is distinct and unique, though many share similarities, and lumping them together is ridiculous. And while some practices are pan-Indian, the vast majority are not.

Kokopelli isn’t “Native American,” He’s Hopi.

Dreamcatchers aren’t “Native American,” they’re Ojibwe.

War bonnets aren’t “Native American,” they’re Plains Indian.

Wendigoag aren’t “Native American,” they’re Algonquian.

Totem poles aren’t “Native American,” they’re Northwest Coastal Indian.

Skinwalkers aren’t “Native American,” they’re Navajo.

what you say,

because I see

what you do.”

IG @ryanalexandra.petit