fanon

By Samantha Martin-Bird

do you think of me
when you read
             frantz fanon
                        audra simpson
                                   glen coulthard
                                                basil johnston

does it remind you
of the
             one
                        ​real
                                   indian
in your life

does it make you consider
every paradox of
indians in modernity

do you wonder if i’m interested
in a settler like you

while critiquing colonialism
             while complicit in capitalism
smudging at daybreak
             brunching on avocado toast

do you think i’m a fascinating
object of study
the most contradictory of indians

send me every article
that makes you think of me

i won’t read it
            send it anyways

---

Samantha Martin-Bird is a poet living on the north shore of Lake Superior in Thunder Bay, Ontario. She was a 2021 winner of the Indigenous Voices Awards, and her work has appeared in Room and Contemporary Verse 2.