Reed Bobroff – Poetry
Divorce
assuming this is really how tradition works
marriage
is a sturdy foundation
of sticks love is the smooth smoke that stains the top of the tipi
assuming this is how tradition really works
when wood
crumbles
like too many fists
into hot coals
it takes a strong woman to walk around the fire and collect pieces of her
husband’s backbone:
war paint
blanket
ribbon shirt
knife
quillwork
it takes a strong woman to tie what’s left of her husband in a bundle of divorce
them from her home leave them outside like dogs or stars to run off
stronger still if she can walk away tipi bound and lie down alone
with a
dwindling
fire
on the walls handprints and charcoal glyphs smell of sweetgrass
weak light from a memory
darkens the smoke hole
circling the opening
like buzzards
* * *
Reed Adair Bobroff is To’dich’iinii Diné (Navajo) from Albuquerque, New Mexico and a freshman at Yale University. In 2010 he was featured on HBO’s “Brave New Voices” with the ABQ Unidos Youth Poetry Slam Team. Reed has presented his work across the world in venues such as the Saban Theater (Los Angeles, Ca.), the Institute of American Indian Arts, and Nga Taiatea Wharekura (Hamilton, Maori). Reed has shared the stage with artists such as Buddy Wakefield, Idris Goodwin, Jessica Helen Lopez, and Rise Against. Reed’s work has appeared in various publications, most notably, La Llorona, an anthology of New Mexican myths; and Te Pī Ka Rere, a publication through Te Panekiretanga o Te Reo. In 2012, he was awarded a National Medal for his writing portfolio submitted to Scholastic’s Alliance of Young Artists & Writers.
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