'Sure, You Can Ask Me A Personal Question,' Diane Burns

How do you do? No, I am not Chinese. No, not Spanish. No, I am American Indi-uh, Native American. No, not from India. No, not Apache. No, not Navajo. No, not Sioux. No, we are not extinct. Yes, Indian. Oh? So, that's where you got those high cheekbones. Your great grandmother, huh? An Indian Princess, huh? Hair down to there? Let me guess. Cherokee? Oh, so you've had an Indian friend? That close? Oh, so you've had an Indian lover? That tight? Oh, so you've had an Indian servant? That much? Yeah, it was awful what you guys did to us. It's real decent of you to apologize. No, I don't know where you can get peyote. No, I don't know where you can get Navajo rugs real cheap. No, I didn't make this. I bought it at Bloomingdales. Thank you. I like your hair too. I don't know if anyone knows whether or not Cher is really Indian. No, I didn't make it rain tonight. Yeah. Uh-huh. Spirituality. Uh-huh. Yeah. Spirituality. Uh-huh. Mother Earth. Yeah Uh'huh. Uh-huh. Spirituality. No, I didn't major in archery. Yeah, a lot of us drink too much. Some of us can't drink enough. This ain't no stoic look. This is my face.

Diane Burns (1957--2006) was a Native American poet of mixed Chemehuevi and Anishinabe descent, who lived in New York for much of her life. This is a theme that I think most people will understand--what makes it great is that the questions are so overdone and obnoxious we really only need the responses. There's a coy joke too, regarding the dominance of female Native American writers in recent years of poetry, and their lack of voice anywhere else.