University of Arizona Press, 2002 Paper: 978-0-8165-2210-1 | eISBN: 978-0-8165-5075-3 | Cloth: 978-0-8165-2208-8 Library of Congress Classification PS501.S85 vol. 49 Dewey Decimal Classification 810.8
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
He has been out there somewhere for a while now, a poet at large in America.
Simon Ortiz, one of our finest living poets, has been a witness, participant, and observer of interactions between the Euro-American cultural world and that of his Native American people for many years. In this collection of haunting new work, he confronts moments and instances of his personal past—and finds redemption in the wellspring of his culture.
A writer known for deeply personal poetry, Ortiz has produced perhaps his most personal work to date. In a collage of journal entries, free-verse poems, and renderings of poems in the Acoma language, he draws on life experiences over the past ten years—recalling time spent in academic conferences and writers' colonies, jails and detox centers—to convey something of the personal and cultural history of dislocation. As an American Indian artist living at times on the margins of mainstream culture, Ortiz has much to tell about the trials of alcoholism, poverty, displacement. But in the telling he affirms the strength of Native culture even under the most adverse conditions and confirms the sustaining power of Native beliefs and connections: "With our hands, we know the sacred earth. / With our spirits, we know the sacred sky."
Like many of his fellow Native Americans, Ortiz has been "out there somewhere"—Portland and San Francisco, Freiburg, Germany, and Martinique—away from his original homeland, culture, and community. Yet, as these works show, he continues to be absolutely connected socially and culturally to Native identity: "We insist that we as human cultural beings must always have this connection," he writes, "because it is the way we maintain a Native sense of existence." Drawing on this storehouse of places, times, and events, Out There Somewhere is a rich fusion taking readers into the heart and soul of one of today's most exciting and original American poets.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Poet, fiction writer, essayist, and storyteller Simon Ortiz is a native of Acoma Pueblo and is the author of numerous books.
REVIEWS
"Ortiz expresses anger and despair in poems that nonetheless are permeated by gentleness and in which silence is every bit as eloquent as words. His meticulous use of repetition and rhythm ensures that the reader feels the pulse of his words and therefore understands them with more than mere intellect." —Booklist
"Combining Native American history, personal confession and social critique in a clear, conversational style . . . insightful, no-nonsense political analysis and poetry rooted in Acoma culture . . . asks crucial questions as much as it argues for beauty." —Publishers Weekly
"Although his words often seem innocent, the observations he makes could only come from one who has known the harshness of the experience. . . . This work ultimately shows us those moments of heightened awareness in which we finally know why we say yes to the private journeys we take through our various geographies and landscapes." —Southwest Book Views
"An accomplished veteran poet at the height of his powers. . . . Ortiz's extraordinary command of his material and authority of voice makes Out There Somewhere a major work. His personal engagement with a state of exile in the larger culture, of being Acoma, is compelling and energetic." —MultiCultural Review
"As always, Ortiz's work is beautiful, profound in its simplicity and sincerity." —North American Review
— -
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
I. Margins
Headlands Journal
Before and Behind Me
Transcribing
Essentialism
History's Midst
Hoping to Hear
Chant
Be
In the Moment Before
For Now It's Enough: Late Night at ARA House: Thank God
Seed
Not by Any Chance
The Spring
It Didn't Matter
II. Images
"Being Poor" and Powerless. And Refusing Again
Anthropology of American Scholars: Notes, That Is
Back East. But When? Where? What? Who?
Histories, Places, Indians, Just Like Always
The Law
Welcome to America the Mall
What Indians?
Strange
Not Somewhere Else
Greatest Believers Greatest Disbelievers
"Indians" Wanted
Believing the Belief
Even "the Indians" Believed
What We Know
Always Just Like You Just Like Me
III. Gifts
To Plant Again
Your Eternity
A Picture
A Gift to Give and Receive
Their Gift
Epic
Telling and Showing Her
Sparrows
Our Children Will Not Be Afraid
For the Children
Always the Song
Rain
Waiting for a Friend
The Laughing Horse
IV. Horizons
Not Knowing and Knowing
The Prairie's Song
Blue Whale, the Largest Living Animal I've Never Seen
University of Arizona Press, 2002 Paper: 978-0-8165-2210-1 eISBN: 978-0-8165-5075-3 Cloth: 978-0-8165-2208-8
He has been out there somewhere for a while now, a poet at large in America.
Simon Ortiz, one of our finest living poets, has been a witness, participant, and observer of interactions between the Euro-American cultural world and that of his Native American people for many years. In this collection of haunting new work, he confronts moments and instances of his personal past—and finds redemption in the wellspring of his culture.
A writer known for deeply personal poetry, Ortiz has produced perhaps his most personal work to date. In a collage of journal entries, free-verse poems, and renderings of poems in the Acoma language, he draws on life experiences over the past ten years—recalling time spent in academic conferences and writers' colonies, jails and detox centers—to convey something of the personal and cultural history of dislocation. As an American Indian artist living at times on the margins of mainstream culture, Ortiz has much to tell about the trials of alcoholism, poverty, displacement. But in the telling he affirms the strength of Native culture even under the most adverse conditions and confirms the sustaining power of Native beliefs and connections: "With our hands, we know the sacred earth. / With our spirits, we know the sacred sky."
Like many of his fellow Native Americans, Ortiz has been "out there somewhere"—Portland and San Francisco, Freiburg, Germany, and Martinique—away from his original homeland, culture, and community. Yet, as these works show, he continues to be absolutely connected socially and culturally to Native identity: "We insist that we as human cultural beings must always have this connection," he writes, "because it is the way we maintain a Native sense of existence." Drawing on this storehouse of places, times, and events, Out There Somewhere is a rich fusion taking readers into the heart and soul of one of today's most exciting and original American poets.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Poet, fiction writer, essayist, and storyteller Simon Ortiz is a native of Acoma Pueblo and is the author of numerous books.
REVIEWS
"Ortiz expresses anger and despair in poems that nonetheless are permeated by gentleness and in which silence is every bit as eloquent as words. His meticulous use of repetition and rhythm ensures that the reader feels the pulse of his words and therefore understands them with more than mere intellect." —Booklist
"Combining Native American history, personal confession and social critique in a clear, conversational style . . . insightful, no-nonsense political analysis and poetry rooted in Acoma culture . . . asks crucial questions as much as it argues for beauty." —Publishers Weekly
"Although his words often seem innocent, the observations he makes could only come from one who has known the harshness of the experience. . . . This work ultimately shows us those moments of heightened awareness in which we finally know why we say yes to the private journeys we take through our various geographies and landscapes." —Southwest Book Views
"An accomplished veteran poet at the height of his powers. . . . Ortiz's extraordinary command of his material and authority of voice makes Out There Somewhere a major work. His personal engagement with a state of exile in the larger culture, of being Acoma, is compelling and energetic." —MultiCultural Review
"As always, Ortiz's work is beautiful, profound in its simplicity and sincerity." —North American Review
— -
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
I. Margins
Headlands Journal
Before and Behind Me
Transcribing
Essentialism
History's Midst
Hoping to Hear
Chant
Be
In the Moment Before
For Now It's Enough: Late Night at ARA House: Thank God
Seed
Not by Any Chance
The Spring
It Didn't Matter
II. Images
"Being Poor" and Powerless. And Refusing Again
Anthropology of American Scholars: Notes, That Is
Back East. But When? Where? What? Who?
Histories, Places, Indians, Just Like Always
The Law
Welcome to America the Mall
What Indians?
Strange
Not Somewhere Else
Greatest Believers Greatest Disbelievers
"Indians" Wanted
Believing the Belief
Even "the Indians" Believed
What We Know
Always Just Like You Just Like Me
III. Gifts
To Plant Again
Your Eternity
A Picture
A Gift to Give and Receive
Their Gift
Epic
Telling and Showing Her
Sparrows
Our Children Will Not Be Afraid
For the Children
Always the Song
Rain
Waiting for a Friend
The Laughing Horse
IV. Horizons
Not Knowing and Knowing
The Prairie's Song
Blue Whale, the Largest Living Animal I've Never Seen
Look to the Mountain
Mountains All Around
Acoma Poems
Land and Stars, the Only Knowledge
Beauty All Around: A Moment on the Lakota Prairie
Getting Ready
Culture and the Universe
Making Quiltwork
More Than Just a River
V. Ever
Consternation
In EI Paso Many Birthdays Ago
Tsegi Canyon
By the Cottonwood
Hunting for Stones
No Weather Map
Kite
What I Know
Light
February and Violet
Thursday, March 3, 1994
Pause: Yours: Ours
Admitting
Eagle Wing
Flagstaff Notes
VI. Connections After All
Beginning and Ending Song: Part 1
Nothing but Eternity
Busted Boy
Mutant and Wise
Past Poems
The Best Movies
Time as Memory as Story
Just Call It Smiling for Victory
Beginning and Ending Song: Part 2
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC