I write because there is story in me, in my parents, aunts, uncles, and in my people.

I write because there is story Navajo people have carried with them and were so shockingly shattered by that one C-word I refuse to say.

I write because I am Navajo.

I write because I have a penis.  I have a smooth and curve of creative expression and it feels like sexual frustration without writing.  It feels like wanting a cigarette without writing.  It feels like one bad hangover without writing.  It feels like digging your feet into snow-covered dirt out on the reservation without writing. I write not because I like pen to paper, but because I like word to mouth and mouth to penis and mouth to ice cream and word to ears and word to computed type on a MacBook Pro.

I write because my mom can’t tell me how she feels. I write because my grandfather can’t tell us how he fell in love.  I write because Navajos are too afraid to speak.  I write for them.

I write because there are too many white poets with open-ended voices listening to themselves at night.  I write because there are too many white men with gray hair telling stories about how to fall in love with a women you meet at the train station.  I write because brown people are too afraid to truly speak what they live.  I write for them.

I write because I need to make my people human.  I write to give them guts and depressions.  I write to give them smiles and aggression.  I write to give them sex on the regular.

I write because….

I write because I’m 21, and what better way is there to get laid on a Saturday night and Tuesday morning?

BIO: Matthew says: “I’m a 4th year student at the University of New Mexico. I’ve featured at East of Edith’s open-mic night and is going to start an internship with the Local Poets Guild in the Fall of 2012. I’ve been published in Conceptions Southwest and a short story of mine was named an Honorable Mention in UNM’s Lena Todd Awards. I am a poet first, storyteller second, and a 6’3″ giant third. And yes, I am Navajo.”

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