I Lost My Talk

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I lost my talk

The talk you took away.

When I was a little girl

At Shubenacadie school.

 

You snatched it away:

I speak like you

I think like you

I create like you

The scrambled ballad, about my word.

 

Two ways I talk

Both ways I say,

Your way is more powerful.

 

So gently I offer my hand and ask,

Let me find my talk

So I can teach you about me.

Rita Joe, “I Lost My Talk,” from Song of Eskasoni. Copyright © 2007 by the Estate of Rita Joe. Reprinted by permission of the Estate of Rita Joe.

Source: The Blind Man’s Eyes (Nimbus Publishing, 2015)