Thoughts about [LONG TIME AGO] by Leslie Marmon Silko

This poem was a moving piece of Native American culture.  It didn't create as much emotion in me as Zinn's version of history writing, but it was very effective in letting me see life through their eyes.  I had a lot of questions while reading, but I think most of them got answered by the end.  First I couldn't figure out who the witches were.  Silko wrote how they came from all over the world, so that made me think they were immigrants coming to take there land, and that the witchery was their guns, swords, and other things the Indians hadn't seen before.  As the poem went on, I realized that these were other natives, witch doctors, from other tribes that came from all over to the speaker's reservation.  They were having a competition, that I thought was a friendly one, and showing off their talent as witch doctors.  They were showing off and doing magic and curing people.  The speaker, a young native, was going to this event for the first time I think, and I'm sure it would be an incredible event to attend.  This is why I love different cultures.  Everyone has their own beliefs and ideas and it is just so interesting to learn about. 

I think this poem was meant to entertain, but also to make us wonder about the witch doctor's prediction.  His story was the most important part of this poem.  It was creepy because it actually happened.  I'm on the fence about whether I believe in psychics, but it is almost too curious to NOT listen to them.  It sparks our imagination and makes us feel like kids again.  But this poem also made me feel sad, because the events actually did happen and there was nothing they could do about it.

There were a couple of parts in the story the witch doctor told that really made me think.  I love when writers word things just right and it makes you feel something.  The witch said the earth is dead to us.  It's SO true.  We don't live off the land, and honestly, how many times a day do you stop to just take in nature and appreciate it? We don't have time. We run, run, run and make money so we can spend it on crap we don't need.  And while some of us are trying to 'go green' it's kinda too little too late.  Plus, we aren't gonna give up our cars and hairspray anyway.  It's sad how things worked out.  I wish we could go back to a time when things were more simple.
Another thing the witch said that was SO true was that the white people would come and have fear, and kill what they feared.  We've been doing that for centuries.  Whether it's animals or people, we kill if we are afraid.  We kill people from other countries because we don't understand them.  We fear what we don't understand.  And we kill what we fear. It's scary to think about, but it's a painful truth.  The witch said we would bring over disease and kill and destroy everything. And we did. 

This was one of those of those poems that almost gave me goosebumps, and for that, I thank you Silko. 

Until next time,

Keri Jo