Speckled Snake

Artwork by: Terry Whetston

I think political metaphors are a great well of information for images. From these oppressed stories there is some great poetry. Speckled Snake compared the "white man" to a little man when they first came to the America's, but it grew into a giant stepping over people. A monster? History has so much shaped the world in which we exist today. Civilization is the same, always needing growth and the persistence of power to remain strong. Look what happened to Rome? Every empire eventually crumbles. We have dual consciousness. We have what we are on a daily basis, and also what we could be potentially. Our daily selves are always striving to be more of our potential. But circumstance outside of our control do not allow us to achieve this. Perhaps in the near future, time and circumstance will allow us to be that which we so desire. But we are prisoners of outside forces that do not allow us to blossom in the way in which we could if circumstance were different. Thus, our imagination flows into endless streams, and some of us suppress these feelings, in order to pursue the more practical daily material happiness. But some of us linger in the land of possibility, always dreaming of a place where our imagination and abilities can take flight, free from the practicality and suppression of the world we currently live in. Some of us would fight for this dream, and some of us just allow the dream to be as it is. Those that fight risk a lot more and their struggle should be rewarded over time. I for one unfortunately only fight in the sense that I continue to ponder, dream, make art, and explore the realm of dream, whether through writing or other activities that active my imagination and curiosity. In my dreams I am not too different from Speckled Snake who lived beyond the years of 100 and his grossly accurate metaphors about the "white man." The world has surely created a monster which chains us all. Yet, the dream of freedom continues. Who will fight for it?