some voices are so true

“My father told me that some voices are so true they can be used as weapons, can maneuver the weather, change time. He said that a voice that powerful can walk away from the singer if it is shamed. After my father left us, I learned that some voices can deceive you. There is a top layer and there is a bottom, and they don't match. Like my stepfather's voice. The top layer was jovial and witty and knew how to appeal to those in power. The bottom layer was a belt laced with anger and terrible desire for the teenage daughter of his wife, my mother.”

― Joy Harjo from Sister Nations: Native American Women on Community