People who are supposed to know
say, “If your great grandfather was Tsalagi
then he would have to have been buried in a box coated with ink,
thinner than the fingernail pressing on a fountain pen
where your great uncle and aunt’s names
were laid to rest
on the Dawes Roll”
So I look for him
past family stories , and Indian blood
past sentries the new Government appointed
to conquer and divide
past tribe members spitting wannabe hate
whose veins still remember Grandfather River
but have forgotten
the salmon who finds her way home
“An Indian is an Indian regardless of the degree of Indian blood or which little government card they do or do not possess.” Wilma Mankiller