Traditional Northern Sports

Ahimsa Timoteo Bodhrán
· in ,

we bang sticks our legs run long distances bang against each other are covered in sweat soil sometimes ice there are nets where released balls hurling objects are caught there is a whoosh whish sound wishes are made granted here there is heat there is sun there are sons we end up cheering we end up bruised but smiling our faces often landing against opponent crowds watch us play the field some games are for two warriors only the volley is intense skin moist stretched from repeated catching we are inter- nationally famous others fear us but at home in this home we are greeted with love cheers the continual banging of sticks

Ahimsa Timoteo Bodhrán is the author of Antes y Después del Bronx: Lenapehoking (New American Press) and the editor of an international queer Indigenous issue of Yellow Medicine Review: A Journal of Indigenous Literature, Art, and Thought.