The girls snap the blanket
I fly
They continue
My belt snaps
I'm naked
You see me
You tell me it's okay
My che makes me a boy
You offer me your chegnake
I say no
You take it off anyway
If I'm naked, you will join me

We are older now
Just becoming men
We strip tanchola
And jump in the river
I'm faster
You say we should wrestle
You pin me
Your chankpe against mine
I can feel your chante
Your susu against mine
Always four is the sacred number
Your che against mine
Both reaching toward our faces
Yours grinding on mine
Hot and sticky, our hiyuye mixes
We stay locked in that embrace
Until our other friends show up
We pasluka together
Pull skin back, forward, back, forward
Until we shoot more hiyuye

Warriors now
We're out hunting
I share my blanket with you
I grind back, forward, back, forward
Until our hiyuye comes forth
We fall asleep like that

Our son will soon have his vision
Is he yours or mine
I don't care
We were both with his mother
Together we killed many toka
And tasted the pleasures of many shan
I motion you into the blanket
Where we will play the old game, mikola
Back and forward, back and forward
Our hiyuye joining again

---

---

Thank you John.

In his post straight, but...", Warrior John explains that

an old Lakota custom was to bond two men as kola. You and your kola must be willing to die for each other. A pair of kola share everything. On hunting trips, they would share a blanket. They'd even share wives. Some customs shouldn't be abandoned.

And, John says,

I remember this river all the kids used to go to in the summer. It was on the way home from McDonald's where I worked. We'd all go swimming there. And of course this meant stripping off the clothes. We'd swim there, sometimes wrestle. And yes, we'd get erections. I don't think anyone saw it as erotic; none of us ejaculated, and we didn't grind against each other or anything. I suppose in the days BC (Before Columbus) we would've. In those days, men would have sex with each other and with men who lived as women, with no special label for it. They were MEN.

John also sent this commentary about the poem itself, stanza by stanza:

The guys are about 8 or 9 in the first stanza. They've just started wearing clothes in all but the hottest weather. Adolescent girls would lure younger boys onto blankets, with the hope of making their belts snap. Che means penis, and chegnake means loincloth.

The next part is a few years later. The boys have started puberty, and have discovered how good it can feel. Tanchola, of course, means naked. Chankpe means chest, chante means heart. Susu or itka (eggs) means testicles. Hiyuye means semen, and pasluka means masturbate. I think all boys should pasluka with friends. No risk of pregnancy or disease.

The third part is the teen years. They're now warriors and hunters. They've probably even been with a few girls. They still have each other. They've even declared their love in a kola ceremony.

In the final part, they aren't as old as they seem; they can be anywhere from mid-20s to early 30s, their eldest son being 10-14. The use of "our son" reflects traditional kinship: Your father's brothers and kola, and your mothers' husbands, were all your fathers. Your mother's sisters and your fathers' wives were your mothers. As it sounds, toka means enemy and shan means vagina. He's reflecting on shared conquests and glories, both on and off the battlefield.

With John's words in mind, let's reprise his terrific poem:

The girls snap the blanket
I fly
They continue
My belt snaps
I'm naked
You see me
You tell me it's okay
My che makes me a boy
You offer me your chegnake
I say no
You take it off anyway
If I'm naked, you will join me

We are older now
Just becoming men
We strip tanchola
And jump in the river
I'm faster
You say we should wrestle
You pin me
Your chankpe against mine
I can feel your chante
Your susu against mine
Always four is the sacred number
Your che against mine
Both reaching toward our faces
Yours grinding on mine
Hot and sticky, our hiyuye mixes
We stay locked in that embrace
Until our other friends show up
We pasluka together
Pull skin back, forward, back, forward
Until we shoot more hiyuye

Warriors now
We're out hunting
I share my blanket with you
I grind back, forward, back, forward
Until our hiyuye comes forth
We fall asleep like that

Our son will soon have his vision
Is he yours or mine
I don't care
We were both with his mother
Together we killed many toka
And tasted the pleasures of many shan
I motion you into the blanket
Where we will play the old game, mikola
Back and forward, back and forward
Our hiyuye joining again

Thank you John.

Beautiful words from a true Warrior.

Bill Weintraub