“Red Poem” is more than a song—it’s a reclamation. Written in the mid-2000s and finally released as part of Cate Heleswv (Red Medicine) Vol. 1, this piece finds Dead Feather reaching across time, ancestry, and silence to confront the echoes of colonization and rediscovery. As a deaf Native American artist of Mvskoke-Creek heritage, Dead Feather crafts his art with rare depth, weaving spoken word and vintage rock into something hauntingly alive.
The track begins with the cadence of a story half-remembered, the rhythm of heartbeats and history pulsing beneath the instrumentation. Produced in collaboration with Adam Stanley and Isaac Nelson of Stanley Hotel, the sound is raw yet expansive—guitars howl like spirits in the wind, while the bass carries a pulse as grounded as earth itself. The instrumentation never overshadows the words; instead, it lifts them, amplifying the weight of Dead Feather’s reflections on identity, oppression, and spiritual awakening.
Red Poem is a mirror to history and a testament to endurance. It channels the lessons of Malcolm X, the revolutionary fire of Bob Marley, and the defiant wisdom of Vine Deloria Jr. Dead Feather’s delivery feels both poetic and prophetic, pulling listeners into a trance between past and present. There’s a cinematic quality to the piece, a sense that it belongs not just in headphones but projected across the night sky. What makes Red Poem unforgettable is its honesty—it’s not polished for comfort but carved for truth. It stands as a bold statement of survival, spirituality, and artistic evolution, solidifying Dead Feather as a vital voice in contemporary Native American expression.
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