Weaver Weaver by weaver, Up and under each standard Up and under As my hand moves in rhythm A figure starts to emerge A figure of the ancestors Silently whispering Reminding us they are still here Through tradition Through language They are still here To the naked eye a basket To us it is much…Read More
Issues/Articles
Larry Spotted Crow Mann
A Voice from Deer Island An interpretation of the actual sufferings and doings of a Christianized, Praying Town Indian from Massachusetts during the King Philip’s War of 1675/1676 Tis another bitterly frigid day, and many more are much sick, feeble and hath succumbed to an undignified passing. This icy wind snapeth athwart the ocean with…Read More
Katie Puzycki
Sequence of Life I held on to your soul While you sold Your last celestial breath To the skies and all her stars. We sat before the rolling seas Filled with much trepidation, Never quite sure how to surrender Our words and bodies to all their beauty. I can’t remember how long it was That…Read More
Natalie Dana
Machias Bay Petroglyphs I wonder . . . I wonder Will things ever change? As time slowly rips away I wonder . . .I wonder As the water tears away chunks of stone slowly changing. . .rapidly changing I wonder . . .I wonder As I look upon this stone How long will these stay…Read More
Amanda Russell
Turquoise and Steel Here I am Using anxious hands to create fluorescent lines Like moths desperately searching for light, I hunt for words to illuminate this paper With the love story my Aunt and Uncle have been writing for sixty-four years. I give up. The words I need do not yet exist. So for now…Read More
Faith Damon Davison
Oystering When I was a little kid, my father would be away for long stretches of time. First he was with Merritt, Chapman and Scott, a large maritime company that did salvage work, piloting and also did a lot of the dredging of navigable estuaries and rivers along the east coast as far north as…Read More
Sandra Abena Songbird
Jeff’s Song He brought to us richness A certain opulence left in his wake This brown man From the eastern shores the people of the purple shell his Narragansett he gave permission for indulgence fine food, wine, art jazz the company of Lena Horne, Satchmo, Billie Holiday a time of elegance, and pain he left…Read More
John Dennis
Wen net ni’n Wen net ni’n wjit ki’l Ta’n sa’q weskowa’si tett Wen net ni’n wjit ki’l Ta’n tujiw maja’si’t~p Wen net ni’n wjit ki’l Naqali’t~p aq je me’ eymap Wen net ki’l wjit ki’l Ta’n telimi’t~p maja’si aq me’ ni’n eymap nkamulamunk Wen net ni’n wjit ki’l. My Child When you were born,…Read More
Russell Bassett
So Far Away Along the passages of the times come and gone, There are various thoughts that come on strong, Where I see you as being so far away, Images that may go astray, While I am here and you are there, I reach out with concerns and care, As I think of you, For…Read More
Bruce J. Chapman
When the Smoke Fills My Eyes I could feel that there was something different about today when I woke up this morning. First of all, my eyes were stinging. The smoke from the morning cook fires was hanging low in the morning air. Every morning mom would start the cooking fire by putting a load…Read More
Alice Azure
League -Falls Church, Virginia Friday! Finally five o’clock! I grab my coat, purse and duffel bag, quickly change from corporate to jeans, run down the stairs to my car and head west to Bowl America where friends, seated at tables along ten lanes reserved for our American Indian League, are eating, drinking, laughing, waiting for…Read More
A Crowdsourcing Question: Indigenous Small Presses
I’m working on a long footnote for a review essay due soon, and thought I would put this out there–a brief history of Native-led small presses in the U.S. I am most interested in small presses run by and for Native people, with an emphasis on literary books. Any corrections, additions, and other suggestions would…Read More
Tribal Newsletters and Periodicals in New England
One project I’d like to pursue someday soon is a full database of regional indigenous periodicals. There are loads of them, and they include fantastic writing by tribal members that you just don’t find anywhere else: poetry, recipes, cartoons, historic research and political manifestos. These newsletters, magazines and newspapers date back at least as far…Read More
History of the Native Web
Amy Earhart has been collecting links to early, activist web-based projects focused on people of color, a project that has reminded me how many sites I used to turn to regularly in the 1990s. These may or may not be kept up, as the activists who started them passed away or moved on. Below is…Read More
History of the Native Web
Amy Earhart has been collecting links to early, activist web-based projects focused on people of color, a project that has reminded me how many sites I used to turn to regularly in the 1990s. These may or may not be kept up, as the activists who started them passed away or moved on. Below is…Read More
Tribal Newsletters and Periodicals in New England
One project I’d like to pursue someday soon is a full database of regional indigenous periodicals. There are loads of them, and they include fantastic writing by tribal members that you just don’t find anywhere else: poetry, recipes, cartoons, historic research and political manifestos. These newsletters, magazines and newspapers date back at least as far…Read More
A Crowdsourcing Question: Indigenous Small Presses
I’m working on a long footnote for a review essay due soon, and thought I would put this out there–a brief history of Native-led small presses in the U.S. I am most interested in small presses run by and for Native people, with an emphasis on literary books. Any corrections, additions, and other suggestions would…Read More
Experiment in Online Book Discussion: Unraveling the Spreading Cloth of Time
I’m trying to renew a little experiment with online book discussion. A couple of years ago I tried starting an online book group for people interested in reading New England Native American authors. I used Goodreads.com, simply because it seems to be the most popular social reading site (as of this summer, they were saying…Read More
