butterfly man tells a story -- Manny Loley

(The Poetry Foundation's poem of the day today)


near butterfly mountain
lived a medicine person
      from the mountain
      i come to know myself
he told me
      from the mountain
      my name was given to me
      butterfly man
      is how i am known
      some men
      laugh at my name
      but that doesn’t bother me
          my grandmother told me
          never laugh at others
          because the future is unknown
          queer people are sacred
        we must always remember


Translated by the author from the Navajo poem, "hastiin k’aalógii ’ání."