To the words that give me a way to convey my anger

At people who have inflicted generational wounds

To the words that give me the means to fight

Against the system that made me speak them in the first place

That attempted to replace the irreplaceable with

Words that can never undo violent actions

To the words that killed my songlines and made my story worth writing

The permeation of my mother’s words speaks

To the absence of my father and his

Sacred language, heavy fists, old knowledge and bleeding lips

This white way I’ve been told is the right way so

Why do I feel like

A black girl speaking foreign tongue