by Danielle Hale

/bləd ‘kwän(t)əm/
noun

1. a biological system that commodifies culture.
2. half of my mother’s lineage added to half of my father’s.
3. my red blood cells divided by my white blood cells.
4. a number that defines me as 9/32 Indian.
5. a number that will define my children as none at all.
6. a number that defines my Ojibwa husband as white.
7. a means by which Indians will eventually become extinct.

Danielle Hale is an emerging poet who developed her love of poetry while study creative writing. Her poems grapple with the pressures of being a mixed-race woman, including the simultaneous feelings of acceptance and alienation from multiple societies. Danielle received her MA from the University of North Dakota and currently resides in Bemidji, MN.