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Visit
Teepee Town
Reviews
From <Publisher's
Weekly,> May 31, 1999: "You
think of us only/ when your voice/ wants for roots,/ when you have sat back/ on
your heels/ and become primitive," declares Wendy Rose in "For the White Poets
Who Would Be Indian," and her sardonic attitude sums up the collective tone of
this uncompromising anthology. Though there have been numerous collections of
Native American poetry, poets Glancy (<Flutie; The Cold-and-Hunger Dance>),
and Nowak, editor of the journal <Xcp: Cross-Cultural Poetics>, and a professor
at The College of St. Catherine's in Minnesota, have assembled work that goes
far beyond a dreary poetics of indignation. The best of these move toward the
reappropriation of Indian (including Hawai'ian) languages and modes, as in "Tokinish"
by James Thomas Stevens/ Aronhictas: "Call this imprint: Qunnamaúgsuck-the
first that come in the Spring into the fresh Rivers." Provocative essays on poetics
by Greg Sarris and Gerald Vizenor are engaging and accessible, and will work well
on cultural studies reading lists. The inclusion of popular writers such as Sherman
Alexie and Linda Hogan will help expose an existing audience to some startling
new voices, such as those of Allison Adele Hedge Coke and Lise McCloud: "On my
initial do-it-yourself adolescent vision quest I heard the elm trees talking.
'Aneeb. Aneeb. Aneeb.' They never said a think to me in English." ("Mixed American
Pak") These are Indians with attitude, and this collection has the potential to
foster a radical reimagining of Native poetries. From
<ForeWord Magazine,> June 1999:
<Visit
Teepee Town> presents an eclectic and beguiling compilation
of such varied genres as poetry, personal journalism,
tribal oral tradition and academic essay. Additionally,
these various forms of writing are from a geneerous
selection of indigenous people ranging from the Arctic
Circle to southern Mexico, from the East Coast to the
Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific. We hear from Gerald
Vizenor whose thoughts on the origin of anthropologists
are amusingly relevant. Lise McCloud's powerful wiring
in Mixed American Pak, blends the themes of forced residential
Indian schooling and the National American Holiday of
July Fourth with the poetic names of Chinese Fire Works.
From her top ten list of fireworks she would like to
see in beadwork: 1. Opening Flower iwth Happy Bird;
8. Sunflower Spinner; 10. Swork Orchid Fountain. Sherman
Alexie, Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, Linda Hogan, Wendy
Rose, James Luna, Carolyn Lei-lanilau and Barbara Tedlock
are just a few of the many writers woh collaborated
in a wark that utilizes a complex etymology and quick
word play. Its focus in parts is broad and readily available
to most readers, but in others as narrow as to be understood
only by speakers of a specific endangered tongue. This
book is a welcome addition to Native literature.
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