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Seven Poems by Indigenous Writers

Nov 25, 2020
We are still America. We / know the rumors of our demise. We spit them out. They die / soon

From "An American Sunrise" by Joy Harjo 

Something queer happens when the heart is delivered.

From "That Pull from the Left" by Louise Erdrich 

Let us poem a place where you cannot erase us into white space.

From "Missing More Than a Word" by Tanaya Winder

 What land have you cast from the blotted-out region of your face?

From "[What land have you cast from the blotted-out region of your face?]" by Sherwin Bitsui 

I don’t know much about my relatives picking the fields near Bacum, Torim. I don’t know much about the spiny sea urchin, except that it knows more than I about the sea, the sea that names itself unnameable movable horizon.

From "The Gulf of California" by Anita Endrezze 

american indian outside the guthrie forever wounded by tributes high western movie mockery

From "Guthrie Theater" by Gerald Vizenor

Noted to be the definitive bright morning of 10,000 calendars. The church bell melted. Rage of unrequited love became a terrible serpent. The morning star lowered like an enemy’s flag.

From "Definitive Bright Morning" by Sy Hoahwah

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Notable Quotable: 2025 NEA Jazz Master Marilyn Crispell

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