Norla Chee
Post Warrior Drum Down Blues
down in the dust dry wash
down where the drums beat
down where warriors drum down their blues
coyote howls in the wilderness
at the man on the moon
singing a blues ballad by instinct
early in the night
buds, butts, and humor pass around the circle
of post war warriors like frat boys partying
by the time coyote sleeps
they’re passing around Jack Daniels and blunts
and the humor is pocked with politically incorrect names
down in the dust dry wash
where drums beat down, down, down
someone drops the tomahawk
which starts the world spinning
warriors weep into their whiskey
drumming down their post war blues
“I think the poem pretty much speaks for itself. The reader might like to know that Coyote is a trickster and an antagonist in most Navajo tales.” —Norla Chee
Norla Chee is a Navajo/Oneida poet who lives on the Navajo Reservation. She has one book of poetry published, Cedar Smoke On Abalone Mountain, published through UCLA. She has an M.A. in Creative Writing from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona. She has veterans on both her Navajo and Oneida bloodline.