Your Soul Will Hear

You can’t tell me engineering
Is not the place for Indigenous issues.
As long as you live with us
And as long as we drink
from the same watersheds
my Indigenous issues are yours.
So when I say include our voices,
I am not asking for permission.
I am telling you to listen.
And yet I am still met with isolating
silence.
Does it make you uncomfortable?
Do your hands sweat
and does your seat start to shake?
Does your worldview tremble?
Good. It’s about time.
I have been made uncomfortable for over
130 years.
You’ll be just fine.
So listen carefully as the words of
my grandmothers and grandfathers
roll off my tongue
in a language your soul will hear.