by Joy Harjo
WHEN THE
LIGHT OF THE WORLD
WAS SUBDUED,
OUR SONGS CAME THROUGH
A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry
EDITORS
Joy Harjo • Executive Editor
LeAnne Howe • Executive Associate Editor
Jennifer Elise Foerster • Associate Editor
A BLESSING
N. Scott Momaday
THIS ANTHOLOGY is a most welcome addition to American literature. The Native Americans have always been deeply invested in language. The songs, spells, and prayers of the Native oral tradition are among the world’s richest examples of verbal art. The present collection is a comprehensive celebration of that tradition and that art.
Prayer for Words
My voice restore for me.
Diné
Here is the wind bending the reeds westward,
The patchwork of morning on gray moraine:
Had I words I could tell of origin,
Of God’s hands bloody with birth at first light,
Of my thin squeals in the heat of his breath,
Of the taste of being, the bitterness,
And scents of camas root and chokecherries.
And, God, if my mute heart expresses me,
I am the rolling thunder and the bursts
Of torrents upon rock, the whispering
Of old leaves, the silence of deep canyons.
I am the rattle of mortality.
I could tell of the splintered sun. I could
Articulate the night sky, had I words.
—N. SCOTT MOMADAY
CONTENTS
A Blessing by N. Scott Momaday
Introduction by Joy Harjo
NORTHEAST AND MIDWEST
Writing a Poetry of Continuance by Kimberly M. Blaeser
Anishinaabeg Dream Song
The Water Birds Will Alight
1678 // Eleazar // (unknown)
Eleazar’s Elegy for Thomas Thacher
1800 // Jane Johnston Schoolcraft // Ojibwe (Anishinaabe)
To the Pine Tree
On leaving my children John and Jane at school, in the Atlantic states, and preparing to return to the interior
1800 // William Walker Jr. // Wyandot
Oh, Give Me Back My Bended Bow
1861 // Emily Pauline Johnson // Mohawk
Marshlands
The Song My Paddle Sings
1869 // Olivia Ward Bush-Banks // Montaukett
On the Long Island Indian
1913 // Anonymous Carlisle Student
My Industrial Work
1934 // Gerald Vizenor // Anishinaabe–White Earth Nation
Seven Woodland Crows
Family Photograph
Fat Green Flies
1935 // Peter Blue Cloud // Mohawk
The Old Man’s Lazy
Rattle
1943 // Jim Northrup // Anishinaabe–Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior
Shrinking Away
Rez Car
1945 // Gail Tremblay // Onondaga // Mi’Kmaq
Indian Singing in 20th Century America
1946 // Chrystos // Menominee
The Real Indian Leans Against
Ceremony for Completing a Poetry Reading
1947 // Roberta Hill // Oneida
Dream of Rebirth
In the Longhouse, Oneida Museum
These Rivers Remember
1950 // Linda LeGarde Grover // Anishinaabe–Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe
Everything You Need to Know in Life You’ll Learn in Boarding School
1950 // Ray Young Bear // Meskwaki
John Whirlwind’s Doublebeat Songs, 1956
Our Bird Aegis
One Chip of Human Bone
1952 // Marcie Rendon // Anishinaabe–White Earth Nation
What’s an Indian Woman to Do?
1953 // Alex Jacobs // Akwesasne Mohawk
Indian Machismo or Skin to Skin
1953 // Denise Sweet // Anishinaabe–White Earth Nation
Song for Discharming
Mapping the Land
1954 // Salli M. Kawennotakie Benedict // Akwesasne Mohawk
Sweetgrass Is Around Her
1955 // Kimberly M. Blaeser // Anishinaabe–White Earth Nation
Dreams of Water Bodies
Apprenticed to Justice
Captivity
1955 // Gordon Henry Jr. // Anishinaabe–White Earth Nation
November Becomes the Sky with Suppers for the Dead
When Names Escaped Us
Sleeping in the Rain
1957 // Diane Burns // Anishinaabe–Lac Courte Oreilles // Chemehuevi
Sure You Can Ask Me a Personal Question
Big Fun
1958 // Al Hunter // Anishinaabe // Rainy River First Nations
Prayer Bowl
1960 // Karenne Wood // Monacan Nation
Chief Totopotamoi, 1654
Hard Times
1965 // Eric Gansworth // Onondaga
Eel
1966 // James Thomas Stevens // Akwesasne Mohawk
Tonawanda Swamps
St. James Lake
1971 // Kimberly Wensaut // Potawatomi
Prodigal Daughter
1975 // Steve Pacheco // Mdewakanton Dakota
History
1979 // Laura Da’ // Eastern Shawnee
Nationhood
Measuring the Distance to Oklahoma
1979 // b: william bearhart // Anishinaabe–St. Croix
When I Was in Las Vegas and Saw a Warhol Painting of Geronimo
PLAINS AND MOUNTAINS
Placed with Our Power by Heid E. Erdrich
1870 // Elsie Fuller // Omaha
A New Citizen
1876 // Zitkála-Šá (Gertrude Simmons Bonnin) // Yankton Dakota
The Red Man’s America
1904 // D’Arcy McNickle // Métis // Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes
Man Hesitates but Life Urges
1930 // Elizabeth Cook-Lynn // Crow Creek Sioux
At Dawn, Sitting at My Father’s House
1934 // N. Scott Momaday // Kiowa
Angle of Geese
The Gourd Dancer
The Delight Song of Tsoai-Talee
1937 // Victor Charlo // Bitterroot Salish // Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes
Frog Creek Circle
1940 // Lois Red Elk // Isanti // Hunkpapa // Ihanktonwa
Our Blood Remembers
1940 // James Welch // Gros Ventre // Blackfeet
Harlem, Montana: Just Off the Reservation
The Man from Washington
Riding the Earthboy 40
1941/ Richard Littlebear // Northern Cheyenne
NAMȦHTA’SOOMȦHEVEME We Are the Spirits of these Bones
1944 // Lance Henson // Southern Cheyenne
Sitting Alone in Tulsa at 3 A.M.
Anniversary Poem for Cheyennes Who Died at Sand Creek
1945 // Suzan Shown Harjo // Southern Cheyenne // Hodulgee Muscogee
The Song Called “White Antelope’s Chant”
1946 // John Trudell // Santee Dakota
Diablo Canyon
1948 // Henry Real Bird // Crow
Thought
1951 // nila northSun // Shoshone // Anishinaabe
99 things to do before you die
cooking class
1954 // Joe Dale Tate Nevaquaya // Yuchi // Comanche
Poem for Sonya Thunder Bull
1954 // Louise Erdrich // Anishinaabe–Turtle Mountain Band
Jacklight
I Was Sleeping Where the Black Oaks Move
Advice to Myself
1957 // Gwen Nell Westerman // Dakota // Cherokee
Wicaŋĥpi Heciya Taŋhaŋ Uŋhipi (We Come from the Stars)
1958 // Mark Turcotte // Anishinaabe–Turtle Mountain Band
Burn
Battlefield
1959 // Elise Paschen // Osage
Wi’-Gi-E
High Ground
1963 // Heid E. Erdrich // Anishinaabe–Turtle Mountain Band
Pre-Occupied
Offering: First Rice
The Theft Outright
1965 // Tiffany Midge // Standing Rock Sioux
Teeth in the Wrong Places
Night Caller
1973 // Layli Long Soldier // Oglala Lakota
38
Dilate
1973 // Sy Hoahwah // Yapaituka Comanche // Southern Arapaho
Family Tree or Comanches and Cars Don’t Mix
Typhoni
1975 // M. L. Smoker // Assiniboine and Sioux
Crosscurrent
Casualties
1976 // Trevino L. Brings Plenty // Minneconjou Lakota
Ghost River
Blizzard, South Dakota
1976 // Heather Cahoon // Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes
Blonde
1985 // Tanaya Winder // Duckwater Shoshone // Southern Ute // Pyramid Lake Paiute
learning to say i love you
the milky way escapes my mouth
PACIFIC NORTHWEST, ALASKA, AND PACIFIC ISLANDS
Poetry of the Pacific Northwest: The Arc of the Edifice by Cedar Sigo
Poetry of Alaska by Diane L’xeis´ Benson
Poetry of the Pacific by Brandy Nālani McDougall
Kumulipo Wā ‘ekahi
1786 // Chief Seattle // Suquamish // Duwamish
Excerpts from a Speech by Chief Seattle, 1854
1892 // Lincoln Blassi // St. Lawrence Island Yup´ik
Prayer Song Asking for a Whale
1918 // Mary TallMountain // Koyukon
Good Grease
There Is No Word for Goodbye
1919 // John Dominis Holt // Kanaka Maoli
Ka ‘Ili Pau
1927 // Nora Marks Dauenhauer // Tlingit
In Memory of Jeff David
Letter to Nanao Sakaki
How to make good baked salmon from the river
1930 // Leialoha Perkins // Kanaka Maoli
Plantation Non-Song
1936 // Vince Wannassay // Umatilla
Forgotten Coyote Stories
1938 // Duane Niatum // Klallum
Chief Leschi of the Nisqually
Center Moon’s Little Brother
The Art of Clay
1941 // Fred Bigjim // Iñupiaq
Spirit Moves
1946 // Ed Edmo // Shoshone-Bannock
Indian Education Blues
1946 // Phillip William George // Nez Perce
Battle Won Is Lost
1946 // Imaikalani Kalahele // Kanaka Maoli
Make Rope
1947 // Michael McPherson // Kanaka Maoli
Clouds, Trees & Ocean, North Kauai
1947 // Mahealani Perez-Wendt // Kanaka Maoli
Uluhaimalama
1947 // Wayne Kaumualii Westlake // Kanaka Maoli
Hawaiians Eat Fish
1949 // Dana Naone Hall // Kanaka Maoli
Hawai‘i ’89
1949 // Andrew Hope III // Tlingit
Spirit of Brotherhood
1949 // Haunani-Kay Trask // Kanaka Maoli
An Agony of Place
Night Is a Sharkskin Drum
Ko‘olauloa
1950 // Earle Thompson // Yakima
Mythology
1950 // Dian Million // Tanana Athabascan
The Housing Poem
1951 // Gloria Bird // Spokane
In Chimayo
Images of Salmon and You
1951 // Elizabeth “Sister Goodwin” Hope // Iñupiaq
Piksinñaq
1953 // Dan Taulapapa McMullin // Samoan
The Doors of the Sea
1953 // Joe Balaz // Kanaka Maoli
Charlene
1954 // Diane L’xeis´ Benson // Tlingit
Ax Tl’aa
Potlatch Ducks
Grief’s Anguish
1955 // Robert Davis Hoffman // Tlingit
At the Door of the Native Studies Director
1959 // Elizabeth Woody // Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs
Weaving
Translation of Blood Quantum
1966 // Sherman Alexie // Spokane
The Summer of Black Widows
The Powwow at the End of the World
1968 // dg nanouk okpik // Iñupiaq
The Fate of Inupiaq-like Kingfisher
No Fishing on the Point
1974 // Christy Passion // Kanaka Maoli
Hear the Dogs Crying
1976 // Brandy Nālani McDougall // Kanaka Maoli
He Mele Aloha no ka Niu
Ka ‘Ōlelo
1977 // Joan Kane // Iñupiaq
Variations on an Admonition
Nunaqtigiit
1978 // Lehua M. Taitano // CHamoru
Letters from an Island
1978 // Cedar Sigo // Suquamish
A Small Secluded Valley
After Self-Help
1978 // Cathy Tagnak Rexford // Iñupiaq
The Ecology of Subsistence
1978 // Donovan Kūhiō Colleps // Kanaka Maoli
Kissing the Opelu
1980 // Craig Santos Perez // CHamoru
ginen the micronesian kingfisher (i sihek)
1981 // Ishmael Hope // Tlingit // Iñupiaq
Canoe Launching into the Gaslit Sea
1983 // Carrie Ayaġaduk Ojanen // Iñupiaq
Fifth Saint, Sixth & Seventh
1987 // Abigail Chabitnoy // Koniag // Tangirnaq
Anatomy of a Wave
1987 // Noʻu Revilla // Kanaka Maoli // Tahitian
Smoke Screen
1990 // Michael Wasson // Nimíipuu, Nez Perce
A Poem for the háawtnin’ & héwlekipx [The Holy Ghost of You, the Space & Thin Air]
1991 // Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio // Kanaka Maoli
Kumulipo
SOUTHWEST AND WEST
“I’m here to make a poem” by Deborah A. Miranda
1889 // Arsenius Chaleco // Yuma
The Indian Requiem
1866 // Carlos Montezuma // Yavapai–Apache
Indian Office
1904 // Don Jesús Yoilo’i // Yaqui
Yaqui Deer Song
1937 // Frank LaPena // Nomtipom Wintu
The Universe Sings
1939 // Georgiana Valoyce-Sanchez // Chumash // Tohono O’odham // Pima
The Dolphin Walking Stick
1939 // Paula Gunn Allen // Laguna
Laguna Ladies Luncheon
1941 // Simon Ortiz // Acoma
My Father’s Song
Indian Guys at the Bar
Selection from From Sand Creek
1945 // Emerson Blackhorse Mitchell // Diné
Miracle Hill
1946 // Adrian C. Louis // Lovelock Paiute
Skinology
This Is the Time of Grasshoppers and All That I See Is Dying
1947 // Linda Noel // Koyongk’awi Maidu
Lesson in Fire
1948 // Leslie Marmon Silko // Laguna
Where Mountain Lion Lay Down with Deer
Long Time Ago
1949 // Janice Gould // Koyongk’awi Maidu
Earthquake Weather
1952 // Anita Endrezze // Yaqui
The Wall
1952 // Ofelia Zepeda // Tohono O’odham
Bury Me with a Band
Ocean Power
1952 // Laura Tohe // Diné
When the Moon Died
No Parole Today
1953 // Luci Tapahonso // Diné
&nbs
p; Blue Horses Rush In
Hills Brothers Coffee
This Is How They Were Placed for Us
1961 // Deborah A. Miranda // Ohlone/Costanoan-Esselen // Chumash
I Am Not a Witness
Mesa Verde
1962 // Rex Lee Jim // Diné
Saad
1962 // Margo Tamez // Lipan Apache
My Mother Returns to Calaboz
1968 // Esther G. Belin // Diné
Assignment 44
First Woman
1970 // Hershman R. John // Diné
A Strong Male Rain
1972 // Crisosto Apache // Mescalero Apache // Chiricahua Apache // Diné
Ndé’isdzán [“two of me”]
1972 // Shaunna Oteka McCovey // Yurok // Karuk
I Still Eat All of My Meals with a Mussel Shell
1975 // Sherwin Bitsui // Diné
from Flood Song
from Dissolve
The Caravan
1976 // Orlando White // Diné
To See Letters
Empty Set
1978 // Casandra López // Cahuilla/Tongva/Luiseño
A New Language
1978 // Julian Talamantez Brolaski // Mescalero and Lipan Apache
Stonewall to Standing Rock
1981 // Bojan Louis // Diné
If Nothing, the Land
1982 // Tacey M. Atsitty // Diné
Sonnet for My Wrist
Rain Scald
1982 // Natalie Diaz // Mojave/Gila River
It Was the Animals
When My Brother Was an Aztec
1984 // Tommy Pico // Kumeyaay
from Nature Poem
1991 // Jake Skeets // Diné
Drunktown
SOUTHEAST
Renewal by Jennifer Elise Foerster
1800s // Choctaw
Evening Song 93
1806 // Peter Perkins Pitchlynn // Choctaw
Song of the Choctaw Girl
1833 // Joshua Ross // Cherokee
Sequoyah
unknown // Lily Lee // Cherokee
Literary Day Among the Birds
1844 // John Gunter Lipe // Cherokee
To Miss Vic
unknown // James Harris Guy // Chickasaw
The White Man Wants the Indian’s Home
1860 // J. C. Duncan // Cherokee
The Red Man’s Burden
1861 // Evalyn Callahan Shaw // Mvskoke
October
1873 // Alexander Posey // Mvskoke
To A Hummingbird
Tulledega
To Allot, or Not to Allot
1877 // Samuel Sixkiller // Cherokee
To Class ’95
1892 // Stella LeFlore Carter // Chickasaw
Inauguration Day
1895 // Winnie Lewis Gravitt // Choctaw
Sippokni Sia
1897 // Ruth Margaret Muskrat Bronson // Cherokee
