Dead Feather’s latest single, “Red Poem,” from his forthcoming audio sculpture project Cate Heleswv (Red Medicine) Vol. 1, is an awakening. Hailing from Edmond, United States, Dead Feather is a deaf artist who uses poetry, painting, and music to challenge assimilation and reclaim Mvskoke-Creek identity. Released on July 22, 2025, “Red Poem” bridges spoken word and rock instrumentation to portray the Native American struggle through a historical and spiritual lens. Collaborating with Adam Stanley and Isaac Nelson of Stanley Hotel, Dead Feather transforms a mid-2000s poem into a haunting anthem of resilience.
The song kicks off with a raw, almost live-sounding scene, people chatting and laughing, before a sudden surge of horns, thumping drums, and rattling percussion crashes in. The flute swirls through the air like ancestral wind, while cymbals splash and drums rumble beside the spoken word delivery.
His thick and weathered voice recites like a prophet emerging from the earth, embodying remembrance and generational memory into his spiritual self. “I want to hear about corrupted tribal police, CIA, BIA, FBI,” he takes a jab at systemic betrayal as he brings up how all the forces of security are actually threatening the roots of America. Then come the “forgotten warriors… into the red earth under the red moon,” portraying the gradual erasure of the indigenous that the current government has indicted.
As the track builds, the horns grow more urgent, echoing the tension of centuries. Dead Feather’s words cut deep in the line, “Columbus’s red land of dead language, dead children.” This is a gut-wrenching reckoning with genocide and colonial erasure. Yet the power peaks in defiance, as he vehemently states, “We will not be civilized. I want to hear the real poem.” Here, his voice transcends pain to reclaim dignity, honoring “the first people” and every silenced story, and every story currently being silenced.
“Red Poem” is a thunderous reclamation, part prayer, part protest, and wholly alive with ancestral spirit and modern rage. It’s timeless because it has happened and continues to happen. Stay tuned to Dead Feather.
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Review by: Naomi Joan