Standing in a Wooded Area Iti waya chito fako Iti chito kanafa shila kchulakko Iti illi Large tree Leaning without limbs Large dry tree fallen turned up By the roots Dead ~iti kafi 2017 You Never Have to Ask I was six years old and my little brother three, when our mother took us on…Read More
Issues/Articles
Michael Snyder
Maurice Kenny was a poet of great sensitivity, imagination, and intellectual curiosity. This is fully evidenced by his last collection, titled Monahsetah, Resistance and Other Markings on Turtle’s Back (Mongrel Empire Press, 2017). This new volume blends new and previously published work to forward powerful historical and psychological themes. Born in 1929, Maurice Kenny was…Read More
Publishing the literary magazine
NewIssueTutorial-DV2.0
Letter from the Editor
This past year we have lost two respected and well-loved elder writers, Maurice Kenny, who passed in spring 2016, and Doris Seale, who died early this spring. Many of us have been touched by their generosity, their examples, their poetry, and their commitment to Native American literature and communities. We honor them both in this…Read More
Maurice Kenny: In Memoriam
Maurice Kenny was born in Watertown, New York on August 16, 1929 to parents of mixed ethnic heritage; his father, Anthony Andrew Kenny, was of both Mohawk and Irish ancestry, while his mother Doris Herrick Kenny, was both Seneca and English. He was raised in both Watertown and Bayonne, New Jersey, alongside two older sisters,…Read More
Suzanne Rancourt–Featured Writer
Writer’s Statement Some quotes like some faces are seared into one’s consciousness. One such quote was from a graduate level faculty member who stated, “You can’t be a writer if you don’t read Ezra Pound.” Another faculty member stated, “Native writing isn’t writing and is not to be pursued.” 1. I don’t like Ezra Pound;…Read More
Maurice Kenny: A Tribute in Poetry
Derek C. Maus “Mastery” If ever word there was that needed rescue From overfoul connotation, it might well be this: Master. From Tom Waits’s Renfield shouting it slavishly – “May-aaaaaasss-tuh!” – at Gary Oldman’s draconic Dracula, To Simon Legree’s “bad cop” juxtaposed against Augustine St. Clare’s ostensibly “good cop” It’s not easy to feel much…Read More
Remembering Maurice Kenny
Alice Azure It was September of 2012 in Milwaukee. A group of us were packed into a van on our way back to our hotel from the opening ceremonies of Returning the Gift. Maurice Kenny was sitting right behind me in the van, driven by a young man intent on, it seemed, hitting every pot…Read More
Doris Seale: In Memoriam
I received the letter below, with some of Doris Seale’s poems, from Judy Dow, and reprint that material here with her permission. Judy also supplied the following biography of Doris, as well as the photographs –Cheryl Savageau, editor. ******** Doris Marion Seale was born in 1936 in Brattleboro, VT, and attended Simmons College in Boston,…Read More
Linda Boyden
To The Young Couple In The Booth Across From Me You looked into each other’s eyes while above you five televisions blared five different games and around you Friday Night Happy Hour cursed and howled and waitresses in short kilts and kneesocks danced past you blouses molded to their breasts buttons strained trays balanced…Read More
Stephanie Francis
POETRY skitkomiq kihci-kikuwosson wewehseyutomon ktahkomiq ma-te wen `topeltomuwon ktahkomiq psi-te keq nituwi nutomonon ktahkomihkuk micuwakon, `samaqan, ktahkomonsol… skitkomiq kihci-kikuwosson kilun yut skitkomiq kikon the earth is our great mother treat the earth as sacred nobody owns the earth everything I need, I get from the earth food, water, seeds for planting… I…Read More
Joseph Lee
The Pageant My earliest memories of the Pageant are of being embarrassed. The Pageant is an annual event my Tribe puts on for non-Tribal members where we dress up in traditional clothing and act out Wampanoag legends. As a kid it felt like a chore. I didn’t want to walk around in a leather breechcloth…Read More
Asata Radcliffe
Harlan Chronicles Intro to Story The Harlan Chronicles is a forthcoming novella series that follows the life of Harlan Drinkwater, set in a post-reservation dystopia, the first set of stories in the PRD Series. During a time when all books written are screened and digitized as federal property, printed books are a rare…Read More
Barbara Robidoux
Lily Paul Her name is Aurora Little Bear. When she pushed herself out of her mother’s womb, old Lily Paul caught her. Lily’s strong brown hands were calloused from work, veins popping with excitement. She washed her and wrapped her in a flannel blanket while she sang Aurora her Indian name. Lily held her up…Read More
Rachel Sayet
Wikôtamuwôk Wuci Ki tà Kihtahan (A Celebration of Land and Sea): Modern Indigenous Cuisine in New England Preface As a Mohegan tribal member, I grew up attending festivals and events that centered around indigenous food, such as the Green Corn Festival, Succotash Time, and summer powwows throughout New England. Many of our traditional stories also…Read More
Mapping ssipsis’ newspaper stash
By Andrea Engen, UNH Class of 2018 (click directly on a balloon to see details, or click the frame in the upper right-hand corner to see the larger map) The Maine Indian Newsletter compiled Indian news from the late 1960s into the early 1970s. Dawnland Voices 2.0 currently shares access to thirty-four of these issues….Read More
Dawnland Voices 2.0: print edition, and a call for reviewers
It has been a good while since I posted anything to the blog section of this website. Dawnlandvoices.org actually started its life as “indigenousnewengland.com,” where I reviewed new books emerging from the dawnland. That quickly got away from me as I started working on the new Dawnland Voices 2.0 magazine and our digital collections of…Read More
Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel-Featured Writer
Kuhtôqatun/Our Story: On Being a Native Writer Our story breathes within the rocks, trees and hills of New England. It is a living story, told in the colors of blood and sky, earth and sun. It runs through woodlands; swims through rivers, flies to the clouds, touches the boundless starry lights of the celestial ancestors….Read More
