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she_reads_alot's review
5.0
Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry.
I have been making my way through this book for the last six months or so.
It’s very different from what I was expecting and unlike any poems that I have ever read.
I bought anthologies from four different poets that were featured in this particular collection. I always love when I discover authors who are knew to me.
The Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and Pacific Island section was the hardest for me to get through—though I can not say definitively why.
The Dakota 38 was something I’ve never heard of—I really enjoy learning new things about our nation’s history.
I never would have read this and in fact had never even heard of this book until Oprah selected it last, tumultuous fall.
I have been making my way through this book for the last six months or so.
It’s very different from what I was expecting and unlike any poems that I have ever read.
I bought anthologies from four different poets that were featured in this particular collection. I always love when I discover authors who are knew to me.
The Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and Pacific Island section was the hardest for me to get through—though I can not say definitively why.
The Dakota 38 was something I’ve never heard of—I really enjoy learning new things about our nation’s history.
I never would have read this and in fact had never even heard of this book until Oprah selected it last, tumultuous fall.
gitli57's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
4.0
Norton Anthologies are usually quite thorough, well-considered and academically approved. This volume is no exception. Joy Harjo, the lead editor, is an institution among Native Nations poets and is currently serving as poet laureate of the U.S., the first Indigenous poet to do so. The other editors are also very well respected Native Nations writers/poets/scholars. Harjo's introductory essay is quite fine and in keeping with Norton's academic aesthetic.
The anthology is organized geographically. Each region is introduced by an insightful essay from one of the editors. Within each region, there is a full range of work from early examples coming out of the Boarding Schools to the latest amazing work by emerging younger poets. Much of the earlier pieces will seem derivative of European styles, but remember that these writers were being educated in the Boarding Schools where forced assimilation and the erasure of indigenous cultures was the goal. One of the many pleasures of this anthology is to see the emergence of truly Native poetic voices growing out of traditional story telling and ceremony, and completely uncompromising in their Indigenous world view. Exciting stuff.
The range of style, technique and viewpoint is impressive as is the sheer number of poets included. Overall, you really couldn't ask for much more.
The one real quibble I have is that it should be made more explicit that this anthology only includes poets from tribes that have a treaty agreement with the United States Federal Government, hence the "Native Nations" of the title. Harjo briefly addresses issues of identity and inclusion in her introductory essay, but I would like to see more openness here. Indigenous America includes the whole hemisphere. Perhaps a later volume could include poets who are First Nations from Canada, Tribal Peoples from south of the Rio Grande and writers from the United States who are affiliated with respected State recognized tribes or are even unenrolled but have legitimate tribal ancestry and know their heritage. All of those viewpoints matter as well.
But that would be a long and difficult process and for now, I am happy to have this wonderful collection available along with a couple other recent anthologies of Indig poetry, about which more at another time.
The anthology is organized geographically. Each region is introduced by an insightful essay from one of the editors. Within each region, there is a full range of work from early examples coming out of the Boarding Schools to the latest amazing work by emerging younger poets. Much of the earlier pieces will seem derivative of European styles, but remember that these writers were being educated in the Boarding Schools where forced assimilation and the erasure of indigenous cultures was the goal. One of the many pleasures of this anthology is to see the emergence of truly Native poetic voices growing out of traditional story telling and ceremony, and completely uncompromising in their Indigenous world view. Exciting stuff.
The range of style, technique and viewpoint is impressive as is the sheer number of poets included. Overall, you really couldn't ask for much more.
The one real quibble I have is that it should be made more explicit that this anthology only includes poets from tribes that have a treaty agreement with the United States Federal Government, hence the "Native Nations" of the title. Harjo briefly addresses issues of identity and inclusion in her introductory essay, but I would like to see more openness here. Indigenous America includes the whole hemisphere. Perhaps a later volume could include poets who are First Nations from Canada, Tribal Peoples from south of the Rio Grande and writers from the United States who are affiliated with respected State recognized tribes or are even unenrolled but have legitimate tribal ancestry and know their heritage. All of those viewpoints matter as well.
But that would be a long and difficult process and for now, I am happy to have this wonderful collection available along with a couple other recent anthologies of Indig poetry, about which more at another time.
anjalirenee's review
5.0
i usually dont like poetry but i found so many poems i loved in here !
it was also really educational when it came to the regional introductions; as a canadian would love to see a similar anthology for canadian first nations ^_^
it was also really educational when it came to the regional introductions; as a canadian would love to see a similar anthology for canadian first nations ^_^
iceangel9's review
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
A magnificent collection of Native American poetry.
carolinefaireymeese's review
dark
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
slow-paced
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Harjo and her associate/managing editors joyfully marry the art of curation and anthologizing (often the bedfellows of cronyism and exclusion) with a well-organized celebration of the breadth of (written, English) Native Nations poetry. To a scale unlike any I have witnessed before, each poet is provided with a thorough biography and introduction, as well as the geographical regions each poet lives in or has roots in. And the poems themselves--they are everything, they span everything. Elegy for the horrors and joys of the past, commitment to and interrogation of the dualism of the present, scanning the future for a trail through language to illuminate once-occupied space and to reassert Native Nations' place in the cosmos.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide and Grief
imiji's review
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
deeply excellent anthology of Native poets, whose works are incredibly diverse, powerful, and resonant. i especially appreciated the attention to regional diversity and the golden opportunity to discover a lot of new favorite poems and writers.
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