Street roots., August 17, 2012, Page 6, Image 6

street roots
6
Aug. 17 2012
The light
A traveling
poet finds a
place in
Portland
Holly Cat Sheriff
You came in, so I could shine
Light shone through, where I was
blind
Darkness inside
All the love, twisted,
I held inside
BY COLE MERKEL
S T A F F W R IT E R
ike most Street Roots vendors, Harold
Thompson has experienced poverty
up close. In 30 years of traveling, he
says he has visited all 50 states and has
spent extended amounts of time in Los
Angeles, Chicago and other major American
cities with starkly disparate economic gaps.
What sets him apart from most other
vendors, though, is that Harold has lived in
a place with the most severely entrenched
poverty in the United States. Harold is
Native American — mostly Sioux, part
Chippewa — and spent many years of his life
on the Sisseton Reservation in South
Dakota.
“In an urban environment you see
nothing but homeless people who are on
the streets all the time because they have
no place to go,” says Harold in his calm,
soft-spoken voice. “But a reservation is a lot
tougher to live on because there’s hardly
any work and there is little to do there.
They have a high rate of alcoholism,
poverty, hunger, and most all the kids that
do go to school drop out. There is a South
Dakota reservation that was ruled by a
teenage gang a few years ago. That
reservation is only three miles from the
Nebraska border, so a lot of the people who
live on it go there to get their alcohol.”
Much of Harold’s poetry — which he
produces prolifically — alludes to his hopes
of reconnecting a communal identity in the
wake of the United States’ genocide of
Native Americans less than 150 years ago.
“When I do write, it comes from up here,”
he says pointing to his head. “I just write
down whatever I feel.”
Harold’s life has followed the Native
American diaspora. After being adopted at
the age of three, he moved with his mother
to southern California in the wake of the
federal government’s Indian Relocation Act
L
I let you in, and now I shine
Love shown through the place left
behind
Music sound sweet,
For a moment,
My heart moved to your beat
Now gone,
An ending to a favorite song
You gave me light
With your time
And there’s still light
In the spaces I left behind.
CENTRAL CITY
C elebrating the
40th Anniversary of
Hooper Detox & Sobering
Monday, Sept 10th
4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Left Bank Annex
101 N. Weidler
Commemorative coins to
the first 400 people!
w w w . centralcityconcer n . or g
503-294-1681
Dependable, mature person interested
in assisting ethical and safe person(s)
with house sitting, pet care, plant care,
yard work, laundry, organizational
projects, etc. Please call 503-228-5657
and leave your contact information,
preferably a name and email address.
References available upon request.
Will do housework, mowing lawns,
laundry, babysitting or house sitting.
Contact Laura through Street Roots
503-228-5657
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P H O T O BY COLE M ER K EL
of 1956. He served in the Air Force during
the Vietnam War and, after graduating from
UCLA with a degree in human services,
Harold returned to the South Dakota
reservation to connect with his birth family.
He worked as a teenage youth counselor
while he was there. “I taught them about
the dangers of alcohol and drugs,” he says.
“I used myself as an example because I was
an alcoholic, but I’ve been sober for almost
30 years.”
Harold is a father of three and
grandfather to 13. His son followed in
Harold’s footsteps and is currently serving
active duty as a combat pilot for the US Air
Force in Iraq. Harold moved to Oregon a
little over two months ago searching for
work. He has since established himself at
the Burnside door of Powell’s bookstore
downtown. Stop by and say hello, and search
the paper for his poetry, which gets
published frequently.
Cole Merkel is the Street Roots Vendor
Coordinator. I f you have a story you would
like to share about your favorite vendor, feel
free to contact him at cole@streetroots.org. or
through our website at www.streetroots.org
under “contact.”
We are all related/Mitakuye Oyasin
VENDOR WORK ADS
Answers to puzzles on page 15
••
Our July 20 vendor profile of Jonathan
Cornelison incorrectly reported that the
University of Arizona is located In Tempe,
AZ. University of Arizona is actually located
in Tucson, whereas Arizona State University
is located in Tempe.
Please report any errors to our managing
editor, Joanne Zuhl, at 503-228-5657, or
write to joanne@streetroots.org
By Harold Thompson
We are like the stars, there are a great many of us.
We are like the sea, we have many voices.
We are like the skies, always changing from beautiful to
Ugly and mean.
We are like the flowers, still young and learning
We are like the trees, very old and wise.
We are like the young, sweet and innocent, souls
Dreaming of how we came to be
We are like the circle, connecting at all times
We are like a family, strong enough to hold together a tribe
We are like the buffalo, when they lived in harmony
With each other
We are like the people, with a spirit that is indomitable
And ever powerful.
Portland
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