Minnesota We are the original earthlings and they are our animal brothers (written especially for my new friend Dawn Duvo)

Misconceptions, myths
and downright ignorance
rage now, in Minnesota and beyond
maltreatment of the children
of the Wilderness
Whom the Objiwe and many more
are fond

mandatory protection
has been cancelled
the ranchers and the hunters
shout hoo ray
their arrogance is guided by
faint heartedness
for with their loaded rifles
they display

a wanton disregard
of all that’s living
firing into bushes rapidly
the habitat is tamed
the warriors its claimed
do howl their combined heads off
constantly

contentious are the issues
on rocks beneath the moon
the killing it will happen
the ranchers want it soon
Everybody’s up in arms
the wolves too are aware
of the writing, on the wall
Because hunters put it there
they frighten off prey animals
and drive them far away
all wild creatures shudder
as the men with fire sticks
spray
they high five in their
camouflage
with murderous intent
its clearly spread across their face
as expletives they do vent

The objiwe, are brothers
we live where we were born
each knows the forest
and the plains
The Objewe the corn
the few packs live here peacefully
stealthily they run
the gambit every single day
all expect to hear the gun
they shelter steadfast
in the silent shadows
a den deep in the earth
is possibly
safe where they can rest up
in the moment
and wait for dawn
before the thought to flee

rampant remnants
of the raunchy ranchers
the horrid haunted hunters
squat in hides
some wolves are cut down in a stream of
bursting bullets
that tear into their flanks
and crush their sides
They are like family every single
one of them
each we gave names to
and watched them grow
each had a special character
and all were individuals
hunting on their own
and in the flow
to see them breathing rapidly
and dying
gasping for that last breath
on this earth
and hearing these bold hunters
laughing out aloud
not really realising
the wolf’s worth
sicken us and all of the objiwe
we understand their spirit for we know
that really they are family
and to treat them as they do
will bring down evil spirits
and disease with run on through
the wild one’s have been living
some 10,000 years or more
you run them off their land
but you will suffer blood and gore

They are like family too us
we have lived side by side
each respects the other
and each sometimes confide
the white man seeks to profit
from the wild one’s and he will
in the short term get his way
but we shall come back to kill

His spirit and his being
for its short term profit, he
thinks about and we the wild one’s
have eternity
we sacrifice each moment
we lay our heads and sigh
we howl into the moonlight
but only appear to die