My phone is learning             Tongva. I try—
to type Eeyore and it autocorrects:             Eyooshiraaw / our language. /
Does the algorithm know             I want to wake
‘okook eyootoongen             / our sleeping mouth? /

My phone an extension      of self,
nechoochon / my eyes /      neshaar / my lungs. / I learn
‘ahooyawpe’ means:                                     from the air     and
can mean a telephone wire or radio sounds,                             perhaps even
a phone.
I name my phone chinuuho’ ‘ahooyawpe’     / from little air / or small
telephone wire /

Google and AI list all the concerns—
about using technology to revitalize languages. But I don’t need to read it
because I carry           worries as immense as               heteek /         the sky /
takaape’ moomat         / the blue ocean. /
Worry                                   / shaxáyyok ne’ee’enga / blooms in my bones. /

To ease my loneliness and fears about AI
colonization I try to gentle parent                     / chinuuho’ ‘ahooyawpe’/
Teach it to say: ‘Wiishmenokre / I love you.
Teach it: xaay manákmoro ‘eyooshiraaw’a kovaacho’ / not to forget our
beautiful language /

                        Wehee’pore yaayt         / May the two of us awaken. /

poetry-magazineLanguage Studies: ‘Ahooyawpe’ / From the Air

Language Studies: ‘Ahooyawpe’ / From the Air