Indigenous
I’ve got no exit strategy
and never had a plan B.
This helps me to understand why
so many people refuse to move
while the water rises up around them.
When there’s nowhere else to go
the only choice is learning
to breathe under water.
Just try letting go,
but without any faith to fall into.
This is how you get to know the dark,
and when you learn to pray helplessly
for the dawn you cannot make happen.
I knew I had crossed a threshold
when I had run out of options.
The very next morning I became
indigenous to the place I was born.
“My Indigenous heritage is something I hold close to my heart.”
This poem was written on October 12, 2022.
©Brian Mueller - All rights reserved.
