Mar 17, 2019 - Definitions Are Your Own by Ohitika Locke

The definition of poetic is your own
It took me years to understand a little mine
Christmas lights glowing ten feet into the air
Contemplating if i was depressed or just sad
I never really figured it out, even after a couple of years
Cigarettes helped me cope with the overwhelming struggle of compartmentalizing the life around me to make sense of it
Or to find solutions
In a sense that’s my own form of poetry
Everything id make is the HFA symptoms of my existence
One might not find my worries poetic and that’s fine
Everybody with a media or art platform is looking for that tragic native backstory that every native has
I will not provide unless I see fit

The rain drops on the steel sheets around me
Coffee brewing in an overworked machine
I thank the machine
I have to stop thanking cigarettes
10 year old me would’ve not liked where i am at today
And that’s okay
I’m okay with not knowing the answers
Even if it does hurt
I’ll be okay
Humid rain makes me feel sticky
Christmas lights in the dark is the metaphor to my identity
It shines enough to show the indigenous heritage tattooed into my blood and bones
Im am not strong but i am not weak
A heavy burden of poetry seeps into my skin
Beautiful but hurtful
That’s my form of poetry
The small details of life grow into a world so big it makes me feel small
Most of the time i like feeling small
It reminds me that my problems aren’t everything i own
Each revelation that is born
Each stitch i sew into my heart
Each of everything i paint, pictures i take, melodies i make is my poetry
And ill will write it in hopes that the me in the future will remember where i came from
That is my poetry

By Ohitika Locke

Ohitika is a 19 year old artist from Standing Rock. Graduated high-school at Red Cloud Indian School. After graduation he took a year off to help do activism.