Chrystos

Chrystos (born November 7, 1946, as Christina Smith) is an American activist and writer.

"They're always telling me I'm too angry" (1995)

 * From Fugitive Colors (1995) Full text online


 * They're always telling me I'm too angry
 * Especially when I mention land theft or rape or genocide
 * They go to therapy to understand themselves
 * pound anonymous pillows safely with a stranger
 * in the closed room of improper behavior
 * There is
 * no pillow I’m angry with.


 * I’m too tired to be angry enough
 * Angry that I can’t go anyplace
 * without seeing demeaning images and outright lies about Indian people
 * I’m livid that we can’t even keep the few pitiful acres we have left
 * if they happen to have uranium or copper or coal.


 * I'm angry that I can't sleep   that I hate myself
 * that I can’t write as well as I want
 * because I’m so damn angry I can’t breathe
 * Furious that nobody else seems to be angry
 * and they don’t want me to be either
 * Enraged at this whole sodden rotting mess they keep calling
 * civilization
 * as it poisons the air and the water and kills everyone in it’s way.

Quotes about Chrystos

 * Gloria Anzaldúa, an old friend, and Chrystos, a new one, gave me courage to write honestly about violence.
 * Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz, "Acknowledgements" in The Issue Is Power (1992)