Week 10: American Poets of the 21st Century

Critical Introduction:

Wiget, Andrew. “Sending a Voice: The Emergence of Contemporary Native American Poetry” 

Poetry:

m.s. RedCherries – playing america in summer (#12) , finding tomorrow (#13)

In “Sending a Voice”, Andrew Wiget comments on how varied the “Indigenous” voice is in the Contemporary American poetic landscape. Wiget notes that “This problem of recognition, of course, is the old bugaboo of any genuinely contemporary literature” (600). Wiget waxes poetic about the diverse nature of Contemporary poetry, and how it can be difficult to define and identify because of that nature. Contemporary poetry is known for its return to free verse, accessibility through language, and involvement of the reader in the interpretation of the poem. One thing that Wiget points out as problematic is how difficult Indigenous poets found it to get their work in front of a larger, mainstream audience, not that that was likely ever their goal. However, Wiget could not have foreseen how the world wide web would allow poets of every nation, every tribe, to share their work with the click of a button. Though Wiget’s concerns with the canon of American poetry and the promotion of Indigenous poets are still valid, the advent of the internet has removed many of the barriers that previous generations of Native American poets faced. 

NDN Inclusion (#12):

m.s. RedCherries

playing america in summer

an electric boot
sitting apple
with friends silent
you order red
vodka no soda
a day to go to play god
woke me up today 
and says ive never
met an Indigenous person
it is an honor and he gardens
the tomato     
time out abov e scape a cowboy
in despair opens
unopened can
i am tired of me
as the world wakes up
and down
your desire in food
the dampness of strangers 
we tipped your dream last night 
and see your hair ember tomato 
the only indians in brooklyn
are painted on walls
i am painted by 
general electric 

what does it mean 
to drink big beer 
on monday
is it a leaf
or a rat 
my child
my scraped apple
in season 
bruised by 
paramount ash
come out
one leg
bruised by 
missed america

can your country
be found 
in williamsburg
catching a need
take a generation to go
time is moving something 
delighting violence
you get bigger
and ive remained the same
im alone and you 
are with me
there are three gangs after me
and two are in my head

NDN Inclusion (#13):

finding tomorrow

It has been said that Indians want to be left alone, but never actually be alone. Growing up and being the only Indian in your school, in your town, in the eastern half of your state, at a place where you open a history textbook and see pictures of “real” Indians doing “real” Indian things, like bathing in rivers next to a teepee, and your classmates ask you, “do you do that, too?” and I ask myself—should I?—and where your high school mascot is the Indians and that makes you feel like the only real Indian in the world, like the place you were from never existed.

But you know it exists because that is where your family lives—and every Christmas you talk to them on the phone and they tell you stories about home—and you ask

mother,

             where is the Indian in me?

Flag of the Northern Cheyenne

The poetry of m.s. RedCherries conforms with conventions of Contemporary poetry as it is mostly free verse but follows natural patterns of speech. These poems are suggestive by inviting the reader to get involved in the conversation. Both poems are personal without oversharing, and the language and stylistic choices in both make them accessible to most readers. Additionally, m.s. RedCherries is a member of my tribe, The Northern Cheyenne. Though I am not personally familiar with her, I feel a kinship through our shared heritage. If I ever meet her, as with most people of Native American ancestry, I would likely address her as “Cousin”, though we likely do not have a close familial connection.

Conclusion

In my initial reimagination of this course, Week 9 “NDN Poetry” is the most comprehensive week, covering a full spectrum of poets with a strong emphasis on history and the Native American Renaissance. However, through the course of this project, I have come to realize that, with representation in other sections, a full rendering of NDN poetry is not necessary. As I look back on the things I learned while putting these modules together, I realize that my own biases have been reformed and reimagined. Seeing how American Indian poets and scholars have historically been erased or silenced from the landscape of American poetry was devastating. This class initially took me back to every course that omitted the Native voice, every year that passed without seeing a Native writer in a textbook or syllabus, every teacher or scholar that spoke from a place of privilege in the white world of academia. With the freedom to reimagine this course with the addition of Native voices, I appreciate why representation matters – with representation, there is no need to call attention to subcategories that are historically ignored, because they are already present. In thoughtfully reimagining this course, I am able to share what I have known, and what countless Native Americans have been saying for decades – We. Are. Still. Here.

Works Cited

McCarty, Teresa L., et al. “Hear Our Languages, Hear Our Voices: Storywork as Theory and Praxis in Indigenous-Language Reclamation.” Daedalus, vol. 147, no. 2, 2018, pp. 160–72. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/48563028. Accessed 1 Dec. 2024.

Moore, David L. “‘The Story Goes Its Own Way’: Ortiz, Nationalism, and the Oral Poetics of Power.” Studies in American Indian Literatures, vol. 16, no. 4, 2004, pp. 34–46. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20739516. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.

Navarro, Carmen García. “Joy Harjo’s Poetics of Memory and Resilience.” Atlantis, vol. 41, no. 1, 2019, pp. 51–68. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26732508. Accessed 18 Nov. 2024.

Roszak, Suzanne Manizza. “Redefining Terms, Rethinking Concepts: Anticolonialism for All Ages from Erdrich to Santiago.” They Also Write for Kids: Cross-Writing, Activism, and Children’s Literature, University Press of Mississippi, 2023, pp. 65–92. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv37ftc91.6. Accessed 10 Nov. 2024.

Scarry, John. “Representing Real Worlds: The Evolving Poetry of Joy Harjo.” World Literature Today, vol. 66, no. 2, 1992, pp. 286–91. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/40148135. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024.

Shurbutt, S. Bailey. “Where Mountain Meets Atom, Within the Healing Circle: The Writing of Marilou Awiakta.” Journal of Appalachian Studies, vol. 11, no. 1/2, 2005, pp. 195–204. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41446662. Accessed 3 Nov. 2024.

Skeets, Jake. “Poetry as Field.” World Literature Today, vol. 93, no. 4, 2019, pp. 92–94. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.7588/worllitetoda.93.4.0092. Accessed 9 Nov. 2024.

Taylor, Michael P. “Not Primitive Enough to Be Considered Modern: Ethnographers, Editors, and the Indigenous Poets of the American Indian Magazine.” Studies in American Indian Literatures, vol. 28, no. 1, 2016, pp. 45–72. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.5250/studamerindilite.28.1.0045. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024.

Vizenor, Gerald. “The Ruins of Representation: Shadow Survivance and the Literature of Dominance.” American Indian Quarterly, vol. 17, no. 1, 1993, pp. 7–30. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1184777. Accessed 19 Nov. 2024.

Wiget, Andrew. “Sending a Voice: The Emergence of Contemporary Native American Poetry.” College English, vol. 46, no. 6, 1984, pp. 598–609. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/376794. Accessed 1 Nov. 2024.