WHEREAS

In an interview of poet and U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo conducted by Layli Long Soldier in May 2017, the two discuss the idea of a continuum of poetry from generation to generation of Native American poets from diverse tribes. In the interview, Long Soldier recalls how in her past studies of Native poetics, she and her contemporaries were encouraged to identify differences between their poems and the poems of the generation before them. Later, however, Long Soldier became more drawn to the idea of a thread that pulled them together.

“A generation is like a person,” Harjo says. “Each bears particular themes and predominant colors.” However, one generation feeds the next, and the older generation is nourished by the up and coming one. The idea of a Native poetics is complex, as “Native American” encompasses nearly 600 tribes and over one hundred and 75 languages. In the introduction to the Poetry Foundation collection “Native American Poetry and Culture,” Harjo writes, “The literature of the aboriginal people of North America defines America. It is not exotic. The concerns are particular, yet often universal.” Similar histories of migration, removal, oppression, and treaty negotiation constitute a litany of shared, and often ongoing, experiences.