Two native girls
Drinking pop
Puffing up dust with their feet
Sitting on Watch Lake Lodge's porch
Ranch country

White kids
"How'd you squaws get off the reservation?"

"Screw you. This is Indian country!"

"Wagon burners!"

Same two girls
Teenagers in town
Walk by pool hall loungers
"Hey, you squaws got any white in you?
I could give you some!"

"Screw you, honkey!"

"Bush niggers!"

Young married couple go to town
Soccer tournament
Decide to stay the night
Call a motel
"Do you have a room?"

"Yes, Ma'm, come on over."

Fifteen minutes later
When they see us
No rooms.

We think, "Screw you."
But leave quietly.

Forty years old
A lifetime of experience
Get up at five every day
Work like hell
Seven days a week
For years on end
To get where I want to be.

Colleagues say,
"You got the job because you are an Indian."
"Screw you," I say
In a scholarly manner.