City Tribe

a poem about Native Americans growing up in the city

City Tribe

we ran through the streets

not realizing we didn;'t belong

not one of us knew

our heritage was missing

Soon became obvious

from those around us

 our differences always

brought condemnations

As the voices said

what we would become

Children of the  city

Natives of the land

Tribal affliation didn;t matter

we were all Baltimore Indians

Quickly learning what was expected

 To overcome the obstacles

 The nonnative set

we were the lesser class

Children look down upon

with their fake sympathy

Telling us the dangers

because of who we were

all expected to be

w****s of the neighborhood

Drunks in the gutter

Stay away they said

like their children would catch the disease

Baltimorean Indians

the wild ones

We banded together

just to prove them wrong

 Lombardy, Cherokee, and Blackfoot

Started a tribe of our own

lifted one another up

when all seem lost

Despair setting in

 that maybe what they said

was true afterall

 we were only too stupid to know

we had no hope

of becoming something different

better than they said

 What the Baltimorean Indians could be

Walking through the streets

holding our heads up

sometimes that all we knew to do

 along the alleyways

of our sadness

we found our brothers and sisters

standing there with us

ready to give us the words

Only to believe

and know we had already

proven them wrong

Cause we were our own Tribe

had become something special

The Baltimorean Indians

                   Lynn Higgs

                       07/05/2007

This Poem is dedicated to all my Native Brothers and Sisters i Had grown up with. I really missed you guys. Funny when life becomes challenging i think of all of you . I believe if anything I'll make it through for the tribe.