The Columbus Free Press lost a member of our community Saturday, November 15, 2025. Michael Eckhardt passed on to the spirit world after a courageous journey battling lung disease.
Michael wrote for the Free Press since the 1990s, covering Native American topics, particularly his work with the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee (LPDC). He served as Regional Director, member of the National and International Speakers Bureau, member of the LPDC Advisory Board, and his last position was being appointed a member of the LPDC Executive Council. Michael also represented the national LPDC at the 1995 United Nations Working Group for Indigenous People in Geneva. After that he was given the responsibility for maintenance and oversight of over 100 support groups worldwide.
He was very involved in the effort to free Native activist and political prisoner Leonard Peltier and was able to witness his release after nearly 50 years imprisonment, pardoned on the last day of Joe Biden’s presidency. We honored Michael as a Free Press hero this past January for his dedication to Peltier, Native and social justice causes.
Throughout this past year, the Free Press’ book publishing company CICJ Books worked closely with Mike and his wife Sally to publish a volume of his poetry and artwork. Titled Navigation: in these uncertain times, his poems reflect on the environment, Native Americans sentiments, political activism, and life itself.
Here are samples of his insightful poetry and the image above is of Michael.
passage
cool cobblestone pathways
now covered all
of softestwhite blossoms
freshly fallen
sweet fragrance emitted
brief requiem
spectacular indeed
in life and death
each petal plays a part
for all to see
springtime season again
passing us by
as we play out our own
seasonal role
most failing to notice
our relatives
clearly amidst the earth
between the stones.
Odds are
odd, the bombs which fall
are ordered, built and dropped
by those, once children
they have lived lives to date
with complete absence of contrition
the same odds and laws of probabilities
apply to those children about to hit
but their choices cut short
no chance to decide
how to live or which course to take
who can figure such odds.
Drum music
once tall and straight
branches extended
birds came to visit
the tree appreciated
the song and conversation
as did the deer standing below
protected by the tree line
now all these years later
the tree has fallen
the deer has been taken
to sustain life
as the tree is hollowed
the hide is stretched
it has come time
for those who once listened
now to give music in return
...a drum is made.
