the dead visit often/i no longer fear them/some i know at once/even if i never knew them

/others introduce themselves/

they bring things/

riddles/secrets/dreams of fire/memories/instructions/prophecy & the keys/they warn/they rail & rant at the bedside/they wander through the house/some speak chattily/others are silent/i hear & understand them all/some are relatives/sometimes they are other peoples relatives/others are heroes dead & gone/they are all warriors/ once of fire burning bright/now waiting to rise/we drink and think upon them/

’til they rise again/

geronimo came last night/he was alone

/sometimes he is with cochise/cochise tells

tales of mangas coloradas/long may his spirit live/fallen warrior/

we drink and think

upon them/’til they rise again/perhaps mangas himself will come one day/

/once free as wind/now riding on it/dust in

dreams/speaking to the listening/

last night

geronimo was sitting by the bedroom window/

often he does not speak/there is

little need/it seems i know/what he know/& he know/what i know/

sometimes we watch the fig tree/as according to the season/ it dresses or undresses/it is

undressing/he sat

& watched it

in its bareness/it unmoving in a silvery silent rain/neath

a waning

moon/

i rose to sit beside him/no need to speak/he know what i know/we both know/no good comes of wolves at the wheel/i know what he know/blood on the path/blood on the moon/blood on closed doors/blood at the foundation/to undo it may take more/

we know blood/

he told me his true name/geronimo is a prayer name/they were praying when they named him after the saint/jeromio/

to no avail/saint jerome did not answer/

Goyaałé spoke for him/

we know blood/

mixed in times of war/we know blood/growing in resistance together/we know blood/

we watch

the tree/seasons change/blood and struggle remain/

/we are instructed by the dust/

we watch the tree/day rises/we both dreamed of zulus

samurais

sharp shooters

& dervishes

/the night before/

a gathering/& sounds of war/

we have heard the howl of crazy horse/in a not so distant distance/

we have talked for hours without words/we agree john bown was a good white man/

we are uncertain about the existence of others/we are uncertain about existence

we wait visits from nat & harriet with news of marcus/marley came once/we were too

gloomy for him/he helped us sharpen arrows and departed/

we watch the tree/wanting to know what it know/waiting for instructions from the dust/

/blood & struggle remain