I Am, We are One

Today I went for a walk

And witnessed pure beauty

I heard the most beautiful sounds

The swaying trees

To the singing birds

And the buzzing bees

The empowering stream

Composed into one symphony

And as I listen to the biology

Of this ecology

I realize everything is whole

Nothing a man nor machine

Can recompose

I am one with the earth

I feel whole

And at this moment I feel the vitality.

I feel the pulse of a heartbeat.

The same heartbeat my ancestors had.

I feel my blood flow like earth’s river and streams.

The sun’s radiant light shining through the trees giving me warmth and solace.

It’s such a relief to be free

Not only physically

but mentally and spiritually

Unbroken, uncaged

I am a native american

A dying breed

And as I take a rest from my hike

I catch myself in a deep thought

My mind is full of ideas

I know that when I write

My fingers start to bleed

Because this pen is my life

It’s my shield and my blade

And I fight, but I also protect

I love but I also respect

What I have is a sharp mind

And a deep intellect

What I ask all of you is

To disconnect to reconnect

What do you expect to gain from a piece of machine?!

Only a distraction from yourself your surrounding and other human beings

I also think what’s wrong with these people?

Can’t they see what they’re doing to the planet?

If they keep at it

She’s going to die soon

What next?

The sun? The moon?

We have to keep her healthy

We have work with her

We’re residents of this planet

We don’t own her

It’s the other way around

We need to work with nature not against it

When we first arrived on earth

We were scared of nature

Then we started to evolve

Then we wanted the world to revolve

around us

And I can’t emphasize this enough
but we need to love the world and take care of her

Or else we won’t have a home

I believe a better future

A future without dirty energy

No burning fossil fuels to make electricity

No more corporate greed

A life is more precious than a buck

A piece of paper that has no real value

Other than materialism

My mind caged in a prison

But yet many trees life’s are ended

And that where I draw the line

Homes taken from our wildlife

So many species gone extinct

Humankind got rid of wild lands in order to get more profit.

They poison our food with pesticides and fertilizers and genetically modified it.

And that’s not all…we are overpopulating the Earth and made an industrial world

Which means that there will no longer be room for wild animals and there would be no more forests

Just big ‘ol factories with a cloud of pollution

Makes your emotions

Out of proportions

Like an acidic ocean

When you think about it

Equality is what we want

No sexism

Or racism

But in order to achieve this

We need unity, solidarity

We need to destroy the walls that are dividing us

We all have a common ground

Which is a dying planet

That we need to revive

So we could thrive

And go on about our happy lives

But were so self-centered

Dismembered

So I say no! I, we will not surrender

I as a youth I want to voice my concerns

I do it through music and poems

I believe in my fellow youth

We are the future

I am the future

I am

We are one…

— Aaron Tenorio

Aaron Tenorio, aka MC Slader, is a poet and activist from Santo Domingo Pueblo. When he’s not in classes at the Santa Fe Indian School, he’s performing at shows and for the community.