By John E. Smelcer, 2000. In these poems, written in the Ahtna language and then rendered into memorable English, John Smelcer conveys a strong sense of his ancestry (Cherokee/Ahtna), what poet Denise Levertov calls “his constant haunting awareness of indigenous life so grievously wounded yet still alive.” Smelcer speaks from the Alaskan landscape, for the … Read more
By Michael Kabotie (Lomawywesa), 1987. Michael Kabotie or Lomawywesa, son of the artist Fred Kabotie, was born in 1942 at Shungopavi. He is of the Hopi Sinnum, Water/Snow clan, and he is a painter, lithographer, serigrapher, goldsmith and silversmith. In this book of poetry he recreates Hopi traditions for modern Indians in bold, traditional strokes. … Read more
By Charles Brashear, 2000. Brashear`s collection of short stories addresses American Indian-white contact throughout the history of North America. Several of the stories involve mixed bloods, products of Indian-white marriages, a situation that nearly always generates divided loyalties and identity crises. Each story highlights an individual`s quandary—and often alienation—in negotiating and adapting to a face-to-face … Read more
By Norla Chee, 2001. This collection of thirty-seven poems seamlessly weaves the spiritual with the daily and the present with the past. Chee`s poetry as song and story is a mix of Navajo, which is her cultural heritage, and the “Other,” as indicated by non-Navajo customs, ideas, and experiences. She utilizes this comparison to bring … Read more