Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Native American Literature
- The Cambridge History of Native American Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Introduction: What Was Native American Literature?
- Part I Traces and Removals (Pre-1870s)
- Part II Assimilation and Modernity (1879–1967)
- Part III Native American Renaissance (Post-1960s)
- 14 Rethinking the Native American Renaissance: Texts and Contexts
- 15 Marginally Mainstream: Momaday, Silko, Erdrich, and Alexie
- 16 Indigenous Lives, Visual Autobiographies
- 17 Indigenous Writing in Canada
- 18 Reservation Realities and Myths in American Literary History
- 19 Mapping the Future: Indigenous Feminism
- 20 Queer Sovereignty
- 21 Contemporary Indigenous American Poetry
- 22 Contemporary Native North American Drama
- Part IV Visions and Revisions: 21st-Century Prospects
- Index
- References
21 - Contemporary Indigenous American Poetry
from Part III - Native American Renaissance (Post-1960s)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 September 2020
By
Edited by
Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Native American Literature
- The Cambridge History of Native American Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Introduction: What Was Native American Literature?
- Part I Traces and Removals (Pre-1870s)
- Part II Assimilation and Modernity (1879–1967)
- Part III Native American Renaissance (Post-1960s)
- 14 Rethinking the Native American Renaissance: Texts and Contexts
- 15 Marginally Mainstream: Momaday, Silko, Erdrich, and Alexie
- 16 Indigenous Lives, Visual Autobiographies
- 17 Indigenous Writing in Canada
- 18 Reservation Realities and Myths in American Literary History
- 19 Mapping the Future: Indigenous Feminism
- 20 Queer Sovereignty
- 21 Contemporary Indigenous American Poetry
- 22 Contemporary Native North American Drama
- Part IV Visions and Revisions: 21st-Century Prospects
- Index
- References
Summary
This essay looks at the innovations in poetry and poetry publishing from 2001 to 2018, with a particular emphasis on the emerging generation of Indigenous poets like Sherwin Bitsui, Orlando White, Natalie Diaz, and Layli Long Soldier. While paying close attention to the themes and motifs that have been of interest to Native writers, this essay foregrounds innovations in poetic form, including erasures and strikethroughs, complicated syntax, and typographical experimentation. A good deal of recent Native poetry takes on English and its rules and structures as a tool of colonization, repression, identification, and misinformation, and in so doing, seeks to remake English so that it might be viewed through an Indigenous lens.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of Native American Literature , pp. 395 - 412Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020
References
Alexie, Sherman. 2009. “Survivorman.” New Yorker. June 8. www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/06/08/survivorman (accessed April 23, 2018).Google Scholar
Diaz, Natalie. 2017. “A Native American Poet Excavates the Language of Occupation.” New York Times Book Review. August 6 , 20.Google Scholar
Erdrich, Heid E. 2012. Cell Traffic: New and Selected Poems. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.Google Scholar
Fassler, Joe. 2013. “The Poem That Made Sherman Alexie ‘Drop Everything and Want to Be a Poet.’” Atlantic, October 16. www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/10/the-poem-that-made-sherman-alexie-want-to-drop-everything-and-be-a-poet/280586/ (accessed April 23, 2018).Google Scholar
McAdams, Janet. 2016. Seven Boxes for the Country After. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press.Google Scholar
Ortiz, Simon J. 1981. From Sand Creek: Rising in This Heart Which Is Our America. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.Google Scholar
Rader, Dean. 2011. Engaged Resistance: American Indian Art, Literature, and Film from Alcatraz to the NMAI. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Viñas, Biana. 2007. “The Motion of Poetic Landscape: An Interview with Sherwin Bitsui.” Hunger Mountain: December 1. http://hungermtn.org/motion-poetic-landscape-interview-sherwin-bitsui/ (accessed April 23, 2018).Google Scholar
Warrior, Robert. 1995. Tribal Secrets: Recovering American Indian Intellectual Traditions. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
White, Orlando. 2017a. Interview. Taos Journal of International Poetry and Art. www.taosjournalofpoetry.com/letterrs/ (accessed April 23, 2018).Google Scholar
Young Bear, Ray A. 1980. Winter of the Salamander: The Keeper of Importance. San Francisco: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Young Bear, Ray A. 1990. The Invisible Musician: Poems. Duluth, Minn: Holy Cow! Press.Google Scholar