Week Three #readNDN #2sDayPoems

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#readNDN, #readwomen, Catching Cooper, Copper Canyon Press, Crazy Brave, DiveDapper, Joy Harjo, Mojave, Muscogee, Natalie Diaz, Native American Heritage Month, native american poetry, Native American Women's Poetry, NPR, Patterns in Mudhills, Secrets from the Center of the World, Stephem Strom, University of Arizona Press, When My Brother Was An Aztec, women poets

I am so impressed by Natalie Diaz (Mojave). Not only does her poetry make me feel like I’m falling off a cliff–in a good way, of course–but her work in preserving the Mojave language gives me hope for other endangered Native tongues.

If you don’t have her first collection When My Brother Was an Aztec (Copper Canyon, 2012),get it. And be anticipating the release of her second collection, also with with Copper Canyon, that she teased in this late 2015 interview at DiveDapper. You’ll find links to several of her new poems there.

But the one I wanted to share with you today is “Catching Cooper“. You won’t be the same after you read it.

 

Okay, if you’ve spent any time on this blog, you’ve seen this woman. Joy Harjo (Mvskoke) opened the door to Native American poetry for me and continues to be my poet-hero. Get all her books immediately, seriously, like right now.

The poem I’m sharing today is from Secrets From the Center of the World (Univ. of AZ press), which pairs her poems with the photography of Stephen Strom.

This is “Patterns in Mudhills“.

OMG! So beautiful. Check out her interview at NPR about finding her voice and her memoir Crazy Brave. Oh yeah, she reads a few poems there too.

 

 

More than a month #ReadNDN

Tags

#readNDN, #readwomen, Heid Erdrich, Joy Harjo, Native American Heritage Month, Native American writers, NDN poets, Tiffany Midge

Native American Heritage Month has come and gone, but that doesn’t mean you should tuck those Bad NDN’s away.  Just like you’ve embraced the #readwomen movement, resolve to #readNDN all year.

Here’s three poetry collections to help get you started:

Heid Erdrich‘s CELL TRAFFIC (Sun Tracks, Univ. of AZ)

Joy Harjo‘s CONFLICT RESOLUTION FOR HOLY BEINGS (W.W. Norton)

Tiffany Midge‘s THE WOMAN WHO MARRIED A BEAR (Univ. of NM)

Leave your suggestions in the comments.

#NationalPoetryMonth’16 Round-up (Day 30)

Tags

#NaPoWriMo, #NationalPoetryMonth, Apparatus Magazine, Bao-Long Chu, Bookslinger, Brain Pickings, Chronically Creative, Eavan Boland, Erika L. Sanchez, Found Poetry Review, Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, Jo Bell, Joy Harjo, Lorna Dowell, Marcus Jackson, Mariah Wilson, NotaLiteraryJournal, NPM16, Pablo Neruda, Poem a Day, Poetic Asides, poetry prompts, Poetry School, QuillsEdge Press, Samiya Bashir, Sara Teasdale, The Writer's Center, women poets

Whether you made it here fast or slow, Congratulations, poemers! It’s the final round-up of the best prompts, poems and news from your #NaPoWriMo/#NPM16/#NaPoMo /#NationalPoetryMonth/#poemaday hashtags.

Best of the Prompts

NaPoWriMo’s “Translation Challenge”
NotaLiteraryJournal’s “Places You’ve Never Been prompt”
Poetic Asides P-A-D “Dead-End prompt”
Poetry School’s “Leaving Home prompt”
Mariah Wilson’s “Celebration prompt”
QuillsEdge Press’ “Hands prompt”
Found Poetry’s “Phone-words prompt”
Apparatus Mag’s “Endings& Beginnings prompt”
Jo Bell’s “Love prompt”
Imaginary Garden’s “Maypole prompt”
Chronically Creative’s “Thief prompt”

Poems I Have Loved (Tweeters’ Shares)

Sara Teasdale “There Will Come Soft Rains”
Lorna Dowell “Window Display”
Eavan Boland “The Pomegranate”
Marcus Jackson “Pardon My Heart”
Bao-Long Chu “Durian”
Erika L. Sánchez “A Woman Runs on the First Day of Spring”
Samiya Bashir “John Henry’s First Real Swing” w/commentary
Pablo Neruda “Keeping Quiet” (read by Sylvia Boorstein)

Miscellaneous

Nearly Unbearable Grace: The Poetry of Joy Harjo (Univ of Cali TV)
Poetry Publishers On Their Favorite Lines (Bookslinger)

**Poets, if you would like to be featured in 2sDay Poems, have your collection reviewed, guest post in the Poetry Lab or blog on any of the Thoughts on Poetry topics, including Foremother Friday or Small Press Interviews, drop me a line at  bonesparkblog@yahoo.com.

#NationalPoetryMonth’16 Round-up (Day 8)

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#NaPoWriMo, #NationalPoetryMonth, 100 Scope Notes, 30dpc, Adele Kenny, Apparatus Magazine, Connie Voisine, Dear Poet: Write Me, Elizabeth Koch, Eve L. Ewing, Found Poetry Review, Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, Instagram poetry, Jen Karetnick, Joy Harjo, Kate Foley, Lagan Press, Leticia Hernandez Linares, Lucille Clifton, Mariah Wilson, May Sarton, NPM16, Patricia Smith, Poem a Day, Poetic Asides, poetry prompts, Poetry School, poets' day jobs, QuillsEdge Press, The City Quill, Valerie Nies, Winter Tangerine, women poets, Words on a Wire

DAY EIGHT of the best prompts, poems and news from your  #NaPoWriMo/#NPM16/#NaPoMo /#NationalPoetryMonth/#poemaday hashtags.

Best of the Prompts

NaPoWriMo’s “Flower prompt”
NotaLiteraryJournal’s “Word Salad prompts”
Imaginary Garden’s “Women’s Freedom prompt”
Elizabeth Koch’s “Everyday Item You Can’t Live Without prompt”
Poetic Asides P-A-D “Doodle poems prompt”
Adele Kenny’s “Being Alone prompt”
30dpc’s “20min walk prompt”
Apparatus Mag’s “Tap Into Your Dreams prompt”
Poetry School’s “Afterlife prompt”
Mariah Wilson’s “Rewritten Endings prompt”
QuillsEdge Press’ “Yearning lays its hands prompt”
Kate Foley’s “All About Family prompt”
Found Poetry’s “Something You Can’t Remember prompt”
The City Quill’s “Plant Perspective prompt”
Dear Poet: Write Me’s “Your Opposite prompt”
100 Scope Notes’ “Book Spine Centos prompt”
Winter Tangerine “Write What the Walls Whisper prompt”
Lagan Press’ “Morning Reflections prompt”

Poems I Have Loved (Tweeters’ Shares)

Valerie Nies “How to Throw Like a Girl”
May Sarton “Metamorphosis”
Lucille Clifton “What the Mirror Said” (read by Bill Murray)
Joy Harjo “A Poem to Get Rid of Fear” (video)
Joy Harjo “A Map to the Next World”
Jen Karetnick “A Note to GK Chesterton”
Eve L. Ewing “to the notebook kid”
Patricia Smith “Hip-Hop Ghazal”

Miscellaneous

12 Famous Poets and Their Day Jobs (Mashable)
8 Writers Who Are Taking Poetry Beyond the Page
Words on a Wire broadcast with poet Leticia Hernández-Linares
Words on a Wire broadcast with poet Connie Voisine

**Poets, if you would like to be featured in 2sDay Poems, have your collection reviewed, guest post in the Poetry Lab or blog on any of the Thoughts on Poetry topics, including Foremother Friday or Small Press Interviews, drop me a line at  bonesparkblog@yahoo.com.

#NationalPoetryMonth Round-up (Day 18)

Tags

#NaPoWriMo, #NationalPoetryMonth, #NPM15, 52 blog, Anita Endrezze, Apparatus Magazine, Boston Poetry Slam, Chuck Perkins, craft talks, CryptoPo, Ellen Moody, Garrett Hongo, Harriet blog, Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, Jo Pitkin, Joy Harjo, lunch poems, Lyn Hejinian, Marge Piercy, Michael Dwayne Smith, mslexia, Negative Capability Press, New Orleans poet, pink ink press, Poem a Day, poet interviews, Poetic Asides, poetry foremothers, Poetry Foundation, Poetry magazine, poetry prompts, the language inside, Wendy Pratt, Wild Violet, women poets

The best prompts, poems and news from DAY EIGHTEEN of #NaPoWriMo/#NPM15 /#NationalPoetryMonth.

Best of the Prompts

NaPoWriMo’s “Urgent Journey prompt”
REWIND 52 blog’s “HOME prompt after Zepeda, Figura or Sheryl St. Germaine”
REWIND Boston Poetry Slam “Urban Myth prompt”
Poetic Asides P-A-D “Vowels Poems “
Negative Capability Press’ “Bernadette Mayer Experiments prompt”
Pink Ink Press’ “Personifying the Muse prompt”
Flashbang Writing Studio’s “Twitter Poems”
Apparatus Magazine’s “Exploring Music prompt”
The Language Inside’s “Holiday rituals & traditions prompt”
Imaginary Garden w/ Real Toads’ “Words of Nimoy or Pratchett prompt”
Mslexia’s “Eavesdrop prompt”
Wild Violet’s “P is for Prose Poems”

Poems I Have Loved (Tweeters’ Shares)

Marge Piercy| “The Scent of Apple Cake”
Jo Pitkin| “Luna Moths”
Anita Endrezze| “This is a Poem About Indians”
Wendy Pratt| “Nan Hardwick Turns Into a Hare”
Joy Harjo| “Insomnia and the Seven Steps to Grace”
Garrett Hongo| “I Got Heaven…”
Michael Dwayne Smith| “How to Grieve”
Chuck Perkins| “Jack”

Miscellaneous

Post-Poetry, Part 1: CryptoPo at Harriet Blog
30 Poetry Foremothers presented by Ellen Moody
Lunch Poems: Lyn Hejinian

Making the Case for “Modern” Native American Memoir with Recommended Reading List

Tags

Allison Hedge Coke, american indian memoir, Anna Lee Walters, Bad Indians, Blonde Indian, Bloodlines, Books and Islands, Brando Skyhorse, Choctalking on Other Realities, contemporary native arts, Crazy Brave, David Treuer, Deborah A Miranda, Diane Wilson, Ernestine Hayes, Falling Into Place, Hattie Kauffman, Janet Campbell Hale, Joy Harjo, Lakota Woman, LeAnn Howe, Leslie Marmon Silko, Linda Hogan, Louise Erdrich, Maria Tallchief, Mary Crow Dog, Miss America, modern native american memoir, Muscogee Daughter, N. Scott Momaday, NDN culture, Prima Ballerina, recommended reading list, Rez Life, Robert Mirabal, Rock Ghost Willow Deer, Skeleton of a Bridge, Spirit Car, Susan Supernaw, Take This Man, Talking Indian, The Blue Jay's Dance, The Names, The Turquoise Ledge, The Woman Who Watches Over the World

–from the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts

Ours has been called “the age of memoir,” and particularly in America, the genre has been labeled “the central (literary) form of our time.” But at the same time that the publication of personal narratives has soared, critics and some readers have chastised its writers for being voyeuristic, self-indulgent or worse. Then there is the dreaded ‘nostalgic’ label, which still has at center stage, the author’s bright and shining face.

Native American or American Indian (NDN) cultures, on the other hand, value community over the individual and are deeply rooted in both the land and in a contiguous past and present. Readers who have soured on “standard” American memoir, might find storytellers from Indian Country’s broader landscapes a refreshing change.

If you want to dive into the sub-genre, I suggest that you start with N. Scott Momaday‘s The Names and then work your way through the following list according to interest:

 

~RECOMMENDED READING LIST~

 

1.  The Turquoise Ledge: A Memoir by Leslie Marmon Silko

 

 

 

2.  Crazy Brave: A Memoir by Joy Harjo

 

 

 

3.  Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir by Deborah A. Miranda

 

 

 

 

4.  Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country: Traveling Through the Land of My Ancestors by Louise Erdrich

 

 

5.  The Blue Jay’s Dance by Louise Erdrich

 

 

 

 

6.  The Woman Who Watches Over the World: A Native Memoir by Linda Hogan

 

 

7.  Bloodlines: Odyssey of a Native Daughter by Janet Campbell Hale

 

 

 

8.  Rock, Ghost, Willow, Deer: A Story of Survival (American Indian Lives) by Allison Hedge Coke

 

 

 

9.  Muscogee Daughter: My Sojourn to the Miss America Pageant (American Indian Lives) by Susan Supernaw

 

 

 

 

10.  Take This Man: A Memoir by Brando Skyhorse*

 

 

11.  Blonde Indian: An Alaska Native Memoir (Sun Tracks) by Ernestine Hayes

 

 

 

12.  Maria Tallchief: America’s Prima Ballerina by Maria Tallchief

 

 

 

13.  Choctalking on Other Realities by LeAnne Howe

 

 

 

14.  Talking Indian: Reflections on Survival and Writing by Anna Lee Walters

 

 

 

15.  Skeleton of a Bridge by Robert Mirabal

 

 

 

16.  FALLING INTO PLACE: A MEMOIR OF OVERCOMING by Hattie Kauffman

 

 

 

17.  Rez Life by David Treuer

 

 

 

18.  Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog

 

 

 

19.  Spirit Car: A Journey to a Dakota Past by Diane Wilson

 

 

To purchase all titles together or to view updates to the list CLICK through to LISTMANIA!

Galoshes Optional: Rain-Soaked POETRY LAB

Tags

art prompts, Betsy Johnson-Miller, Games that Ogres Play, It's Raining in Honolulu, Jim Sallis, Joy Harjo, Kenji Miyazawa, Lawrence Raab, Millane's Creativity Club, Museum of Modern Art, My Work, Ocean Power, Ofelia Zepeda, Painting Rain, Paula Meehan, poetry drafts, poetry exercises, poetry lab, poetry prompts, Pulling Down the Clouds, Rain Room, rain sounds, rain themed art, rain themed poetry, Rain When I Want Rain, Rain's Eagerness, Strong in the Rain, Visible Signs, Why It Often Rains in the Movies, writing prompts

The Rain Room at the Museum of Modern Art. New York, NY. Friday, June 14, 2013.

Anyone lucky enough to have visited the Museum of Modern Art last summer, could have enjoyed its fun Rain Room installation without ever getting wet.  While most of us here in South Louisiana did not have that luxury, we are all very much acquainted with Nature’s slippery friend.  After a few mind-numbing days of downpours, one simply must retreat to the clean, dry page.

Alas, even there rain-themed verse is to be had aplenty. But with the sheer beauty of such lines as “Rain opens us, like flowers, or earth that has been thirsty for more/than a season” from Harjo’s “It’s Raining in Honolulu” (full-text below), who would not want to have a good soak.  Enjoy this poem and the four other selections before we move on to penning our own.

 

It’s Raining in Honolulu
by Joy Harjo

There is a small mist at the brow of the mountain,
each leaf of flower, of taro, tree and bush shivers with ecstasy.

And the rain songs of all the flowering ones who have called for the rain

can be found there, flourishing
beneath the currents of singing.

Rain opens us, like flowers, or earth that has been thirsty for more
than a season.
We stop all of our talking, quit writing or blowing sax to drink the
mystery invoked
by the night rain.

We listen to the breathing beneath our breathing.

This is how we became rain.

Translated, this means a white flower behind your ear is saturated with
faith after the second overthrow.

We will plant taro where there were curses.

 

 

That’s such a gorgeous one. Hard to beat a women in tune with the earth! Next have a listen to Rodney Jones reading “Rain on Tin” (text accompanies). Then peruse:

Lawrence Raab‘s “Why It Often Rains in the Movies” from Visible Signs.

Ofelia Zepeda’s “Pulling Down the Clouds”  from Ocean Power

Kenji Miyazawa’s “Strong in the Rain” from same-titled collection

 

And if that doesn’t get you in the mood to write something slick, trying mixing your own rain tract up over at NatureSoundsForMe. Or for those artists out there, try digging into the Singing and Dancing in Rain art prompt over at Milliane’s Creativity Club. You might like to use some of the images below for something similar to that one, or pull from the Rain art board on Pinterest.

 

But wait, I’m not done yet.  How about a few rain-soaked poetry titles like…

 

Painting Rain from Paula Meehan

Rain When You Want Rain from Betsy Johnson-Miller  OR

Rain’s Eagerness from Jim Sallis

 

 

I even have a draft that I’ve been playing with called “Games that Ogres Play”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feel free to share your drafts as well. Comments are open, skippy-dee-do-dahs!!

NDNs with Pens

Tags

Adrian C. Louis, Allison Hedge Coke, American Indian, Deborah A Miranda, Ernestine Hayes, Frances Washburn, Greg Sarris, IAIA MFA, James Welch, Joy Harjo, Leslie Marmon Silko, Linda Hogan, Louise Erdrich, Luci Tapahonso, N. Scott Momaday, Native American, NDN writers, NDNs with Pens, Nora Marks Dauenhauer, Ofelia Zepeda, Sherman Alexie, Simon J Ortiz, Susan Power

Native American, American Indian, Indigenous, NDN. Many labels have been applied to tribal nations as far flung as Alaska and New Mexico. Once marginalized (political rants withheld), many of these groups are now getting a second look with entire university programs devoted to the study of their literature.  As I work on my own project steeped in Tlingit legends, I am reminded of those who came before.  Here is an essential reading list of Native writers:

1. The Way to Rainy Mountain and In the Bear’s House by N. Scott Momaday

2. Love Medicine and Original Fire by Louise Erdrich   [*Buy signed copies direct from Erdrich at Birchbark Books]

3. Skins by Adrian C. Louis

4. Storyteller by Leslie Marmon Silko

5. Men on the Moon and Woven Stone by Simon J. Ortiz

6. Ocean Power:Poems from the Desert and Where Clouds are Formed by Ofelia Zepeda

7. Riding the Earthboy 40 by James Welch

8. Mean Spirit and The Book of Medicines by Linda Hogan

9. One Stick Song and Blasphemy by Sherman Alexie (*anything you pick up by him is bound to be good)

10.  She Had Some Horses and Crazy Brave by Joy Harjo

11. Watermelon Nights by Greg Sarris

12. A Radiant Curve by Luci Tapahonso

13. Roofwalker by Susan Power

14. Bad Indians by Deborah A. Miranda

15. Life Woven with Song by Nora Marks Dauenhauer

16. Blonde Indian by Ernestine Hayes

17. The Sacred White Turkey by Frances Washburn

18.  Dog Road Woman by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke

*Find the complete list on Amazon here.*

And for those of you who are interested, the IAIA (Institute of American Indian Arts) now offers an MFA In Creative Writing.  Note that Sherman Alexie and Susan Power are on staff!

L is for Ladies & Letters

Tags

Deborah Ager, Epistolary Poems, Joy Harjo, Letters to the World, Lucille Clifton, Paula Brancato, poetry, Wom-po listserv

It’s also for luscious, which is what these poems are! Four from the better sex, as promised:

Letter to Lawson or We Were There When Jazz Was Invented by (the Fabulous) Joy Harjo

note passed to superman by (the incomparable) Lucille Clifton

Dear Deborah by Deborah Ager

From Madrid, For Baghdad by Paula Brancato

Want more from the lady scribes? Then pick up a copy of Letters to the World: Poems from the Wom-po Listserv.

And please post if you have a poem that you’re dying to share!!