Underground grime and gravel
churns and grinds.
Drill baby, drill.
Sludge, silt and smoke.
………………………………
There’s something in the water.
………………………………
Our babies absorb the rape.
Frantic hearts become still.
We’re all stuck in the muck.
The grief is opaque.
………………………………
Drill baby drill.
Someone somewhere is getting rich.
But not here.
………………………………
There’s something in the water.
………………………………
Its hard to be good.
Its hard to calm my screaming blood.
I can see the ringing in my ears.
A moment of silence can be
Found at the bottom
Of a bottle of whatever is cheap.
Dad is on heroin and mom is dead.
Sisters are drunk, raped and numb.
Uncle is in jail for killing my grandfather
Youngest brother killed himself
in his third year of university.
The drilling followed him there.
The sound reverberates
In our bones for generations.
It rattles around inside us forever.
………………………………………
I’ve just had my fifth miscarriage
Drill baby drill.
………………………………………
There is something in the water
………………………………………
Cedar doesn’t crackle here anymore
The cedars crack, split then fall.
All is dark and all is sharp
And everything has greyed or gone.
………………………………………
There’s something in the water
Our Co-opted Chief smiles.
Sparkling veneers.
He and Harper shake hands
I notice
they are wearing matching ties.
He speaks of a new era for us.
Our bright futures are in the muck.
Drill baby drill.
…………………………………….
There’s something in the water
There’s something in the water
There’s something in the water
There’s something in the water
There’s something in the water
There’s something in the water
There’s something in the water
Even with hundreds of years
of all our tears
We can’t dilute the opaque muck.
………………..
Until…..
Something ignited
in Saskatchewan
Spread out
in the four directions
Four women roused us
Joined up with the never idles
And reminded us
of where we are.
On our land.
We are on our land.
The drum stirred in us
The familiarity of ourselves
And so we began
to see each other again
And to speak
And to say no.
Aakdewin 