“I knew better to swear because we didn’t do that and there were no other words for what I was seeing. Long, feathered warbonnets adorned each girl’s bobbing head.”

“Ellis meanders to a kitchen. It’s pure chaos. Dirty dishes fill the sink. Food clutters the counters. Likely more dog shit in a corner. The smell makes him gag…”

“He knew he should feel relief or maybe even satisfaction as the animal fell. Instead, he felt uneasy. All morning he had been repressing the feeling that he was being watched, but now he was certain.”

“And just as abrupt as it was that day when he became a hero, my hero, he just as quickly became an unidentified monster. A monster with no name.”

“This was not unusual for my uncle to wake us up all hours of the night, as he was an unusual man with unusual habits—habits I did not understand at such a young age.”

“Lessons taught are not written on any whiteboard, and there are no notes to take. Just listen and learn from these professors we don’t call by name.”

“My body knew that / before my mouth knew words. / So when the cowboy music played, I danced the only way I knew how / with my ancestors in my bones, / with my grandma’s voice in my ears.”

“woman is the light in which began the creation of all things known to us / woman is the warmth of palms faced towards the sky / woman is of sore cheek bones in prairie seas glowing in amber / woman is the day”

“My roots comfort me, / when my heart is breaking, / and sing to me, / when I am most in need.”