JULES DELORME

  This is not our day (National Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2021) by Jules F. Delorme This is not our day This is not our day You cannot own a day But we ask We merely ask That you remember Just remember Not that we were here first But that we exist That we are here That we are still here That our suffering matters As much as yours That our children matter As much as yours That our children matter As much as yours And that the past Can leave scars in the present That we want to move forward We want to move forward As much as you But that the pain Can haunt you Through generations Like rings in a pond When you do not even know Who threw the rock Or that the rock was thrown On this day On this day We only ask We only ask That you remember That we are here That we are still here # https://www.facebook.com/delormewriting #danceroflies #shaman #oracle #oraclecards #spiritanimal #shamanoracle #totem #animaltotems #writing #writer #writers #poetry #poem #poems #poet #JulesDelorme...

  DANCER OF LIES I drew this card before hearing of the Catholic Church’s lack of response, lack of honesty in addressing the two hundred and fifteen bodies found in Kamloops, just the starting number of all the bodies that will be found in residential school unmarked graves. Our people use Dance to express the Truth that goes beyond words. But clearly Catholic officials are Dancing with words to avoid telling Truth. Telling the Truth, as least in theory is supposed to be part of every Catholic official’s job description. Instead they use words to avoid the Truth. Why? Because their lawyers are telling them not to apologize fully and truly because that could lead to lawsuits and even criminal charges. The Truth should not be dependent on outcome and not telling the Truth is the same thing as Lying, no matter how you couch your words. If I seem angry and bitter it is because I started out in the Catholic school system in the sixties. I had nuns and priests and teachers calling me a ...

  Confirmation by Jules F. Delorme How do you begin to talk about it? Friends, who mean well, offer platitudes and sorrow and shock. But no Indian is shocked. We knew the bodies were there. We always knew the bodies were there, not just in Kamloops but everywhere. Anywhere else in the world finding the unmarked graves of two hundred and fifteen children would be met with so much greater outrage but here in Canada, here in North America, here in America, those graves were known about even if only in the unconscious minds of all who live here, and for those of us in the Indigenous community, we have always known, we have always felt the impact through generation after generation and generation and this is not news but confirmation. I’m 60 years old. I left the Reservation when I was 12 years old. But in those 12 years I saw so much death, so much pain, so many suicides and so much violence and abuse that were all a direct result of the rage and the pain from the Residential Schools. ...