I'm reading Whereas, by Layli Long Soldier, and in the poem "38," linked here , I learned some history about the Dakota 38 and the "Sioux Uprising" of 1862, also known as "The Dakota War of 1862" (as an aside, this is the same historical event involved in the controversy at the Walker Art Center over the sculpture, "Scaffold." Long Soldier's poem was published by Graywolf, out of Minneapolis. It wouldn't surprise me if the poem was part of what catalyzed the Walker's awareness of the issue, but... that's just me speculating). I learned many things in the poem: I learned about the 38 men who were executed. I learned about Lincoln's presidency and the historical record of his presidency. I learned about the commemorative horseback ride each winter, preserving the memory of the events and of the 38 who were executed. And I learned of Andrew Myrick, who was killed in that conflict. When asked about the condition of the s...
My books include the National Poetry Series selection, Nervous Systems and Absentia, both published by Penguin Books, and the limited edition chapbook of desert fragments, Artifact Eleven, which engages the monumental land-based art of Michael Heizer. In 2019, my latest collection, You Are Still Alive, debuts from 42 Miles Press out of the University of Indiana. It includes poems that have been published in American Poetry Review, Colorado Review, Kenyon Review, and many other top journals. Like all of my work, it explores a wide tonal range. One poem, “A Moment for Authentic Shine” won the editors’ prize from Spoon River Poetry Review—a competitive prize with over a thousand poems considered. The final judge blew my mind by calling it a “postmodern corollary to Wordsworth’s Prelude,” which is pretty lofty praise. But the collection also includes “Sorry I Can’t Design Your Futuristic Bug Creature,” which is a poem about a giant beetle (based on the eastern-eye click beetle, but just way bigger and out to destroy humanity), which also won an award: the annual prize of the Science Fiction Poetry Association. To me, they’re like equally loveable siblings—one’s a little bookish and the other is up all night watching Doctor Who.
