The Creative Process. PUB DATE 85 NOTE 16P

DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 277 519 RC 016 047

AUTHOR Harjo, Joy; And Others TITLE The Creative Process. PUB DATE 85 NOTE 16p. PUB TYPE Viewpoints (120) -- Creative Works (Literature,Drama,Fine Arts) (030) -- Journal Articles (080) JOURNAL CIT Wicazo Sa Review; vl nl p38-52 Spr 1985

EDRS PRICE mrol/pail Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS American Indian Culture; *American Indian Literature; American Indians; Literary Criticism; *Literary Devices; *Literary Styles; *Poetry; *Poets; Writing (Composition); *Writing Processes IDENTIFIERS Cook Lynn (Elizabeth); Harjo (Joy); Kenny (Maurice); Ortiz (Simon J)

ABSTRACT Four Native American poets in easy narrative style tell about some of the aesthetic judgments they make in their work and, in the processshed some light upon the traditions from which their poetry emerges. Joy Harjo discusses how she wrote "The Woman Hanging from the Thirteenth Floor Window," her use of repetition influenced by =lac and preaching, and her vision of Indian women who inspired the poem. Maurice Kenny describes the illness which evoked associations for the poem "Wild Strawberry" and the significance of the strawberry for the Iroquois people. Simon J. Ortiz relates the conversation which inspired his political poem, "That's the Place Indians Talk About," the revision process used to rework the poem, and the narrative technique chosen for this work. Elizabeth Cook-Lynn comments on her poem, "Survival." Texts of all four poems are included. (NEC)

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To the readers of modern poetry, She sees Take Mkhigan lapping at the shorm of Amerindian works have pined signifi- herself. It is a dizzy hole of water and the ncli cant recognition in the last decade or so. live in tali glass houses a the edge of it In some Some important collections like Angle of places take Mkhisan speaks softly, hae, it just sputters Geese and Gourd Dancer by N. Scott and butts itself against the asphalt. She sees Momaday and Going for the Rain by other buildings just like hen. Shc ..ees other women hanging from manytoored windows Simon 3. Ortiz hold a firm and comfor- counting their lives in the naims of their mods table place on our library shelves. In the and in the palms of their children% hands 4:1 following pages, four Native poets (Or- tiz, Kenny, Cook and Marjo) in easy nar- She b the woman hanging from the 13th floor window rative style tell us about some of the on the Indian sid: of town. Her belly is soft from aesthetic Judgments they make hi their her childien's births, her wom lois swing down below work and, and in the process, throw her waist, and then her feet, and then her heart some light upon the traditions from She is dangling. which their poetry emerges. "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS SEEN GRANTED BY The women banging ftom the 13th floor hats voices. They come to her in the night when the lights have gone dim. 4ometimes they are little cats mewing and scratching al the doot, SOMetiMes they are her grandmother's voice, and sometimes they are givntic men of light whispering The Woman to her to get up, to get up. to get up. Thes when she wants TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." to have another child to hold onto in the night, to be able Hanging from the to fail back into dreams. ti S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Orke c Eawahoral Resew* end Improvement Thirteenth Floor (DucavOnm.RESOURCES INFORMATION And the woman banging from the 1 3th floor window CENTER ERIC) hears other voices Some of them scream out from below Nem document Ass Wen reproduced so *caved from Me petson or onamosabon Window for ha to Pimp. they would push ha ova Others ay soh* °Ramona° it 0 Monor amps Nam teen mode to metes* from the sidewalks, pull their children up lik flowers and gather tecitoduchon °Imlay them into their arms. They wovld hap het, like themselves Pants °Immo/ cor Od000ns$1alidetausdocd. Published in She Had Some Horses by Joy mord do not nacassaftly represent*WAN OERI Damon et policy Harjo, Thunder's Mouth Press, NY. But she a the woman hanging from the 13th floor window, and she knows she is lunging by her own tinged, het She is the woman hanging from the 13th floor own skin, her own thread of indecision. window. Her hands are pressed white against the concrete moulding of the tenement building. She She thinks of Carlos, of Matgaret, of Jimmy. hangs from the 13th floor window in eas Chicago, She thinks of ber father, and of het mothet. with a swirl of birds over her head They could She thinks of Al the women sbe has been, of 211 be a halo, or a storm of glass waiting to crush her the men She thinks of the color of her skin, and of Chicago streets, and of waterfalls and pines She thinks she will be set free. She thinks of moonlight nighis, and of coal spring storms Her mind chatters like neon and northside bars The woman hanging ioni the 1 3th floor window She thinks of the 4 a.m. lonelinesses that have folded on the east side of Chicago is not alone. her up like death, discordant, without logical and She Is a woman of children, of the baby. Carlos. beautiful conclusion. Her teeth break off at the edges. and of Margaret, and of Jimmy who is the oldest. She would speak. She is her motha's daughter and her father'sSOft. She is several pieces berWeeil the two husbands The woman hangs from the 13th floor window crying for she has bad. She is all the women of the apartment the low beauty of her own life. She sees the budding who stand watching her. watching themselves. SIM falling %vett over the grey plane of Chicago She thinks she remembers listening to her own lik When she was young she ate wild rice on scraped down break loose, as she faffs from tbe 13th floor plates in warm wood rooms. It was in the farther window on the east side of Chicago. or as she nonte and she OraS the baby then. They rocked her. climbs back up to claim herself again. 38 2 BEST COPY MAME How dkl this poem begin? ed about the rocldng chair. that room. This poem began two years before I It SW probably one of the quicker began writing It, during a trip to Chicago poems I have written, in terms of getting to visit friends, see the King Tut exhjbit its basic structure down, the basic line of and look for other Indians. I found the it. And unusual in the sense that I kept Chicago Indian Center at nearly dusk. It feeling her there, standing behind me, could have been any other urban Indian urging me on. center, the same part of the city, a color like lost dreams, air tasting like a borrow- ed hope, and always the ragged pool \Vatchanges did you make? tables where kids acting twice their age I don't recall ail the changes I made shoot pool downhill all day. after the first draft of the poem, but there One particular image stayed with me were many. I probably wound up with for two years, and it probably wasn't ex- at least 20 pages of revision and then aody what I saw, but changed, transform- some. These days when I write it's even ed with living. And it wasn't the most more revision. To me that is much of the sIgnificant Image I remember, or it didn't art of writing, the craft of it, taking care appear to be, but something about that that the language fits, that what is meant one small room, hardly anyone in it, a is clear in terms of what is evoked in the western window with no curtains, reader, the listener, and what is spoken maybe a few toothless venetian blinds, Is said so beautifully even when speak- and a rocking chair, especially that bony ing into moments/events that I have to rocking chair with stuffing coming out painfully see. of the padding, and the sun falling behind As a poet I feel that it is my respon- a horizon of skyscrapers, triggered the sibility to ty clear and alive in my work, poem, the story in it. to not add to the confusion. What stillstrikes me about the remembering is not knowing whether What techniques did you use? "for real" anyone had been rocking in One technique I often use, and use in that rocking chair, but everytime I "The Woman Hanging from the Thir- remember it I remember a young woman teenth Floor Window" is that of repeti- nursing a baby, or an old man with a tion. For me it is a way of speaking that greasy paper sack on his leanhig back, can, if used effectively, make the poem softly breathing; or two kids rocking it lift off the page and enter into the listener hard and being warned to slow it down; much like a song or a chant. Repetition or that old woman at forty who watch- has always been used, ceremonially, in ed the sunset as receding light across the telling stories, in effective speaking, so floor; or the other one laughing at her that what is said becomes a litany, and sister's terrible jokes; or anyone I may gives you a way to enter in to what is be- have seen or not seen in that rocking ing said, and a way to emerge whole, but chair. changed. The woman hanging from the thir- Also important as to why a certain teenth floor window could have been in technique would be appealing to a par- that chair, just hours before, letting that poet and/or poem has much to do steady rhythm calm her, a heartbeat ticular. with background, culture, family against wood, trying to dream her own histories. What I call my influences in regeneration, so that any kind of terms of writing are a combination of hopelessness wouldn't be overwhelming. many musics, includhig: country western Out of this the poem took root, two songs, like the ones my mother played yens before the actual writing began. on the radio, jukeboxes and often sang I wrote the poem one afternoon as I around the house: preaching, such as that sat at my desk in my office at the Institute %Ione by Creek preachers, like that one of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, after of my Creek grandfather Marcy Harjo; I pulled out a sheath of papers one of Creek Stomp Dance songs; jazz, which I which had a note on it about the Chicago know my tribe had something to do with Indian Center, something quickly scribbl- it's beginnings, coming like we do from 39 3 BEST COPY MAE Alabam. and places south just listen to in those who, "pull their children up like our musk; early Motown we played at flowers and gather them into their Indian school, danccd to it and knew all arms," in those who remember life, and the wards; and always the heartbreaking can tell their own survival. blues. Thc end of the poem I left deliberately ambiguous. The listener doesn't know whether she jumped, or whether she Who is your audience? polled herself back up. I've always liked Who I saw when I closed my eyes and stories that were able to accomplish that wrote this poem were women, mostly kind of ending well. There aren't too Indian women, those who survived and many of them. "The Lady or the Tiger" those who weren't strong enough is one. That kind of ending can work as (whose words we'll always have to long2Sthere is still a resolution in the carry), the ones who speak through me, ambiguity. and even those who hate me for speaking. I saw women who were holding many children, others embracing lovers. Apersonal comment some dancing the stomp dance and Many people have come up to me after others swinging hard out on some spin- a poetry reading and asked me about this ning dance floor. Heard much weeping, woman who was hanging from the thir- and even more laughter. teenth floor window, because they were I think I always write with especially sure they knew her, or one of her these women in mind because I want us cousins, her sister, or they had read all to know as women, as Indian peopie, about the story in the newspaper where as human beings that there is always they lived, be it New York or Lincoln hope, that we are whole, alive, and Nebraska, or Albuquerque. It was familiar precious. to them, haunted them after hearing the poem because it evoked some possible memory. Can this poem be paraphrased? I know there is a woman, perhaps Yes. it is basically easy to paraphrase, many women are this woman. And you whereas other poems I have written know her, or thought you did, or will. wouldbenearlyimpossibleto Because it's a story that has happened, paraphrase. It goes like this: an Indian perhaps it's happening now. woman from Wisconsin who has come into Chicago to make a living, because she can't at home, is hanging by her Wild Strawberry hands from her apartment building. She is desperate, feels alone, and at the mo- ment the poem begins has difficulty see- by Maurice Kenny ing her life fit clearly, with any kind of For Helene beautiful meaning. She watches her life pass in front of And I rode the Greyhound down to Brooklyn her. Thinks especially of her children, where I sit now eating woody strawberries and of her home, and knows that where grown on thr 'auks of Mexican farmers she is from Lake Michigan speaks another imported from the fields of their hands, tone of voice because she has sat on the juices without color or SweetneSS. lake shore and listened long and hard to the stories. Here in Chicago Lake my wild blood berries of spring meadows Michigan speaks more desperately as it suclad by June bees and protected by hawks slams itself against the concrete along the have stained my face and honeyed edge of the waterfront. She, too, feels the my tonpue healed the sorrow in my flesh city as abrupt, hard. She sees people gather below her and vines Crawi across the grassy floor of the north scatter to the world knows herself as many of the women smkinv, the light of the sun and innocent who are watching. Even though there are tap ot the rain to feed the roots those who are screaming for her to jump and bud sman white flowers that in June I like to feel she sees other possibilities

4 BEST COPY AVAILABLE will burst fruit and announce spring wri t ers. William Oandasan, when wolf will drop winter fur Yuki/F0iOno, publishes"A"Press and and wrens will break the egg Magazine likewise prints the works of a multicultural group of authors. Bro. my blood, blood berries that brought laughter Benet Tvedten, deserving high praise for and the ache in the stooped hack that vied with dandelions for the plucksng, his Blue Cloud Quarterly and Press, has and the wines nourished our youth and heralded published more Native American writers, iris, corn and summer melon and otbrrs cn related subjects, than we fought bluebirds for the seeds anyone. Yet, Bro. Benet is of Swedish armed against garter snakes, field mice; abstraction. wonthe battle with the burning sun As I rallied from the illness, and while which blinded our eyes and froze our hands biting Iwo those cultivated berries, suck- so the vines and the earth where knees knelt ing juices, I began to realizt, to remember and we laughed in the morning dew like worms the many mornings of my childhood at and grubs; we scented age and wisdom home in northern New York State when I would follow my mother and two older my mother wrapped the wounds of the world sisters into the flowering fields where the withasassafras poultice andwe ate wild berries with their juices running wild strawberry vines crawled under the down the roots ofOurmouths andourboy sun. Strawberrying sit here in Brooklyn eating Mexican berries which I did not pick. nor do morning I know the hands which did, nor their stories ... broods January snow falls. listen ... in the wide river Marna bendS light How did this poem begin? bleeds In the winter of 1978, January to be always exact, living in Brooklyn Heights in New in her day of York City I was ill. A close friend and picking nearby neighbor had the goodness of (our fields are stained) the moon. bats heart and thought to bring to my sick bed tell us a basket of cultivated strawberries. to go Helene knew my bndness for the fruit in the scent of and just how important the strawberry berries is to me and my poetry. The wild fox strawberry is not only the first natural awaken fruit of the eastern spring, bet it is the in stars symbol of life to Iroquois people. The 1979' strawberry does hold strong significance With their children other women, for aU the people of the Six Nations and often my mother's friends, would be for myself as a person, as a Mohawk there picking and filling their baskets. It writer and as both an editor and was a good time. Burning hot that it VMS publisher. In 1976Iestablished in those open meadows breezes did rush Strawberry Press to be an exclusively the grasses and flown from off either Native American Press to publish the Lake Ontario or the A. Lawrencle River. poetry and art of Native People. There It was a time of laughter, jokes and teas- were, and remain still today, other ing, cries and tears from we children Native knericans who publish Indian bored with the labor and eager for a writing, but not exclusively. Joseph river swim, and certainly a time of not Bruchac of the Greenfield Review and only felling the belly with the delicious- Press, of Abanaiki descent himself, in- ly hone ysweet fruit, dripping in deed, publishes many Native American ripeness, but a time when the women writers and It may well be the press's exchanged, what I thought were stories, thrust but he also publishes Black, gossip. I am convinced that was the Chicano, Asian, Anglo and African reason they came to the fields. Even

5 41 BEST COPY AVAILABLE then, in 1934-35, those many years back inch in circumference, they were cultivated berries could be bought at tasteless. Below the bright red skin the roadside stands or in the village markets. flesh Was colorless, pale white. I did Also while eating the berries in my thank my friend profusely, but once she sick bed I recalled a strong sentiment of had left, I not only threw the wretched the Lakota Holy Man, Black Elk: fruit ant but vowed I'd never eat Mex- "What the ceremony was over. everybody felt ican strawberries again unles I personal- a great deal better. for it had been a day of fun. ly knew the hands that raised and pick- Thvy were better able now to see the greenness of the world, the wideness of the sacred day. ed them for the table, and especially the colors of the earth. and to set these in their those harvested in Sonora. minds." Directly, I WU not the cause of this There is no doubt in my mind that pick- pain to the workers in Sonora. I'm suffi. ing wild strawberries was a ceremony, ciently realistic to comprehend this. My and to this day has offered me a better purchasing these fruits decidedly look at the grasses of the world, the encouraged the use of not only the width of a sacred day, and certainly the chemical fertilizes but the deaths of men "coiors of the earth." Picking those ber- and women, probably children as well. ries enriched not only our everyday lives I was acutely aware that they, the and bellies but imaginations and spirits harvesters, could not enjoy the labors as as well. We ali, even the children, truly we had when I was a child of those nor- felt better later. I wanted to write of this thern meadows, meadows etched by good feeling,this betterment and blackeyedsusan,purpleclover. enrichment. dandelion; meadows sung to by wrens, This year, winter 1983. strawberries larks, blue jays; meadows that in the con- were, shipped air freight to the United tinuum not only supported our desires States from Chile, in South America . . for freshfruit, but supported our a long way from the home meadows of strengths as a people and as a Nation for the north. Obviously air freighted fruit the wild strawberry was given ..cs us by must be harvested rather green, and need the 'little people:" who live in a quarry to complete the cycle en route. And. so, for the pleasure of eating and to be used too, the berries in the basket which in a healing ceremony. Helene had brought to me in January of IY..cernber' 1978. The straw basket W2S stamped with purple ink: "Hecho En Mex" ... Set up the drum. meaning, made in Mexico. This sent my thoughts and concerns reeling. I knew Winters on thecreek that much of the fruit bought in New Dark men sit indark kitchens. York City winter markets are raised in Words move the 2ir Mexico. The peaches, watermelons, can- A neighboris skk taloupe, and berries are raised in the Needs prayer. Mexican State of Sonora. I have spent large chunks of time in Mexico. I also Women thaw frozen knew that these fruits, and especially the strawberries. strawberries, were grown with the side of chemical fertilizers, chemicalsmai In the dark room ... a drum could and surely would cause great pain to the people working those fields with Kids hang oui eating burgers bare hands. So as I sat in my bed popping atMcDonalds. berries into my dry mouth I recognized The Williams boy the horrendous fact that people were is drunk. possibly dying, people I did not personally know, nor never would; people were Setup the drum. dying so that I could eat those terrible berries in a winter city. an unnatural thne Berries thaw, to be eating strawberries. And they were are crushed, tethble. Large that they were. at least an fingers stained, and tongues.

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Set up the drum. quainted with the context and ideas of A neighbor is sick. the work, but was deeply aware of the Say a prayer. ceremony underlining her intentions. E-:ck men Sit in dark kitchens. w The very first draft of my own "Wild Strawberry" was dedicated to Leslie Wind rattles the moon. because of the influence she had had on the makings of a poem. In a way, I'd sup- While nibblingthosehorrible pose, it was rather an affirmation of cultivated berries I became enraged with Leslie's ingenious power in her novel, the conglomerate fruit companies, as Ceremony, that spurred my poem, and Neruda had years ago, whkh control the the thrust of her foundation and form lives of those Mexican farmers who and poetic language which encouraged scratch out a meager livelihood from the me. So the dedication was an obvious sands, and I was discouraged with my testimony of my great and abiding own self. respect for LeslieSilko's creativity, There, then, is when the thought process changed, andthe poem heavily What changes did you make? Originally the poem was a great deal rethought, revised, reshaped. It WaS a longer. I have not preserved either the tnatter of selection as all good poetry is first or early drafts which had been a matter r4f selection: the most telling copied into a notebook now destroyed. phrase, image of widest connotation, But I recall it was entitled, "Ceremony." sy,abol of depth and metaphor of width; and MA, 2S a chant, into three or four the right words in the right place. I chose pages. I wrote in a fury, and words to compose a circic of wordclancers that sprawled across the lined pages like berry would ripple OUt to encompass many vines. I have composed numerous chants worlds and all people, my residence in best heard on the ear rather than read on Brooklyn, the commercial fields in Mex- the page and consequently I first felt ico, my childhood and home, the past "Ceremony" was meant to be another and rite. chant. The title was indicative to the And I rode the Greyhound down to Brooklyn where I sit eating woody strawberries poem'c direction. I had titled it before grown on the backs of Mexican farmcrs writing down the first lines. Ceremony imported from the fields of their hands, meaning prayer, music, song, dance, juices without color or sweetness- ritual. I would not only offer-a thanlcsgiv- It had to be a catching first line, a startl- ing to the strawberries, and life under the ing opening stanza. Riding a Greyhound rejuvenating sun itself, to the Creator, would surely cause a reader to pause. but a prayer for the workers in those The first line must begin wAh a conjunc- commercial Sonoran fields. I would sing tion to designate a past, a prefix, a this prayer or chant and incorporate, as preface. The last line Was destined to end I had been doing with other poems at with an elipse :o suggest continuum of that time, not merely a music but dance birth and death, prayer and rite, song and in the beat, the meter of the line. In story, time's cycle of seasons . .. winter repetition, I would invoke the "little to winter. And for a poem within a people" to come to the aide of those poem, a flashbacg, a frame was con- farmers; I would invoke the spirit of structed of Brooklyn and Mexican images those who had passed away because of within which the poet sat eating berries the chemicals;Iwould invoke the and reminiscing of a long ago time, an in- memory a my mornings of June nocent time, perhaps a traditional and meadows when I'd picked beside my ritualistic time, and a time frought with mother and sisters. l would produce a joy and pleasure, hope and a future political lyric in the form of a chant. though not void of pain and labor such In 1977 Leslie Marmon Silko, the as the Mexican farmers were then, and Laguna poet and novelist, published her probably now, knew. As Black Erc sug- incredibly beautiful Ceremony. Natural- gests, a fresh time in which we will be ly, I read it, and was not only well ac- "better able to see the greenness of the

43 7 BEST COPY AVAILABLE world, the wideness of the sacred day, ages that most readers could easily relate the colors of the earth." And we would to and identify with, such w.p spring feel "a great deal better." meadows, June bees, bluebirds, and the Pain and labor leading to feeling "bet- like. I also placed in with the images Iro- ter," and the differences between two quois traditional symbols: hawks flying opposing sets of pain and labor would be close to the spirit world; garter snakes, the contact between the poet and the mundane, close to the ground; wolf, a worker ... not thestrawberry which Mohawk clan, and a clan more associated would be the larger image/symbol of re- with spirit, medicine and healing than juvenation. Blood would become the the other two clans, etc. central word or sound: blood or juice of The poem was finished in a few days. the wild berry. blood of my ancestors It was not published until the collection and the Nation, blood of my blood of the Dancing Back Strong The Narion (Blue future, blood as sweet as wild berries; Cloud Qtmrterly Press. 1979) appeared. blood of the workers in the Mexican "Wild Strawberry" has been translated fields, their blood corroded and eaten, into Japanese. Creation and Dutch. or sucked dry by the canccr resulting from the chemical fertilizers; blood spill- Can this poem be paraphrased? ed ... so to speak. Governmental genocide of Indian peoples is never too Perhaps, but best not by myself. 1 far from my mind as hs history is so long believe that Paula Gunn Allen in her in- and the possible present reality a perma- troduction to the collection adequately nent fact. I could have composed a poem SUMS it up: The volume moves with the consciousness of dealing with Indian people working in the poet recovering what has been lost, first at, the uranium mines in the southwest and ticulating what that is. then how it came to be the horrors produced upon their con- lost. then exploring the exact dimensions of the taminated bodies and minds. There is a grief, pain and anger that must accompany loss certain shock appeal by using the word In the enda resolution occurs - simultaneous- ly celebrate the past by finding it in a mean . "blood," er,ecially when reading poems mglesspresent. aloud to an audience. It suggests con- In this fusion, the poet discovers for himself tinuity and both family and clan ties, and and for us the real meaning of past and present, in rty work it should suggest the Iroquois for tote snow falls to Brooklyn as on the reser- Confederacy, or the League of Six Na- vation. and there are stories everywhere. if we hear tions as founded by Daganawidah and Ayonwatha, the Mohawk prophet and "January snow falls, listen. his spokesperson. Blood mug suggest war, death, violence, the massacres of In- "Wild Strawberry" is a richly im- dian people across history since the Euro- portant poem to me and is the center- pean came to this land, Turtle's ba, piece of all my work; it is like the America. Blood is powerful. berry plant vine itself crawling across I dropped thetitle, "Ceremony," the floor of spring meadows seeking changed the form from an oral chant to the light of the sun. a free vcrse lyric and commenced revisions, redrafting, the blue print, the Wild Strawberrywas first publishedin Dancing poem's foundation. Under the first title, Back Strong The NahonCopyright 1979 by Maurice Kenny, published by theBlue Cloud "Ceremony" the poem flowed in a Quarterly,Second expanded edition ofDane. somewhat stream-of-consciousness mg Back Strong The NationCopyright 1979 & technique or pattern. Now structured it 1981 by Maurice Kenny. published by White tended to be more deliberate, less instinc- Pine Press, 73 Putnam, Buffalo, MY. 14213. tive, inspirational and free flowing. It 'from Keading The Blood,Strawberry Press. hardens like taffy pulled by buttered Copyright 1981 by Maudce Kenny hands, or, perhaps more apt, like jam "from Black Elk Speaks, University of cooking to a firm for preserving. Words Nebraska. Copyfight l961 rather than chanting sounds bore the " 'First published inRiver Styx,C5pyright meaning and became drops of jelly in the (980 by Maurice Kenny belly of the poem. I purposely chose ira- Photo Credit Robert Browning

8 BEST COPY AVAILABLE That's the Place the power is getting close, Indians Talk About and the ground is hot and shaking Something is doing that w and the People know that by Simon J. Ortiz They have to keep talking. Praying, that's the Indian way.

We go up there and camp. Singing, that's the Indian way. Several days. we stay there And pretty soon, it's there We tire to tate horses. wagons. You know it's all around. or walk. It's tight there. And we would stay and the People are tight there. That's the place Indians talk about. for the days we have to.

And now, The Coso Hot Springs would talk to us. And we would talk to it. they have a fence around the Coso Hot Sprtogs. The People have to talk to it. We go up there, but they have a fence around. That's the place Indians talk about. They have a gorernmat fence all Ironed Coto Hot Spnngs. Since World War H. the Navy of the government That's the place. has a fence around that place. The People go up thew to talk with the hot springs. children. women. men. we would all go up there to use the power. to keep ourselves well with, You drink that water. it makes you well but there is a late with locks up there all around, You put it on your hands, face, all over and we have to talk with the Navy prople and you get well. all well so they can Iet us inside the fence to the hot springs That's the place Ind;ans talk about. the Coso Hot Springs the People go to. We go up there to talk with the hot springs power but the Navy tells us we have to talk to them You take a flint like this. We don't like it, to have to do that. We don't rdant to talk to the government fence. a hard stone in your hand, and you give it like this. the government Navy. then you pray. That's the place the Indian people are talking about now When you sing. For many years. When you talk to the hot springs. the People went up there You talk with it viten it talks to you Families from all over. From Nevada, from titan. from Arizona, from north California, from south, Something from there, from all o cr. from anyplace from down in there is talking to you You cout: hear it. Families have to travel by horses, You lista. wagons, and nos by cars, and walking We keep going up there. Listen. You can hew it. for all this many years. we have to. To keep talking to the powet The stones in the earth rattling together. of the power in the earth, we have to.

The stones down there moving around each other That's tbe Indian way. When we pray. When we sing. We don't like to talk to the fence and the Navy but for a while we will arkl pruty soon When we talk with the stones we will talk m the hot springs power again. rattling in the ground That's the place the Indians talk about. and the stones moving in the ground That's the place Indians talk about. Listen, got's the way you hear. Oh. Pretty soon. you Call hear it, we stay there for some days. You could hear it ulking. coming far away deep iu the ground, deep down there coming. From far, from far away Wide, the moving power. the voice of the power coming, closer and closer. From far My, coming to us, coming to us pretty soon. L....en, that's the way yvu hear it From the eatth, Getting closer, getting close.

45 9 BEST COPYAVAILABLE II le moving power of the voice pwahrteinc iIp al isntte nanthde and the People talking. Praying. you know, singing soft too. whenIam merely ovcrhcarir ; something bcing said. in the C2Se of this Hearing. poem, I was an actual participant in the that's the way you listen. conversation and the "place that Indians The People talking. talk about." Later, when I wrote the telling the power to come to them pocm, the words and line order sccmcd and petty soon it will come. It will come. to be 2 way of re-experiencing what TV2S the moving power of the voice. gohig on in the original sense. I realize the moving power of the earth, that in another, very close way that it the moving power of the People Vi2S not merely re-enactment of speech, That's the place Indian People talk about emotion, setting and so forth, but actual- ly a way of original experiencing in terms of words, of language. For me, even six How did this poem begin? years later, the experience of what is Like 2 numbcr of poems I have writ- meant by the Various it:kW of "place" is ten, it began with a conversation. That very strong. I hear, feel, know the mov- is, I got the idea, theme and topic, and ing power of the voice and the earth. the actual substance from the conversa. That is the deeper and most intimate don I was having with a Paiute man in beginning of the poem I think. Bishop, California. There was a meeting going on about Coso Hot Springs. Before the meeting, people were getting ac- What changes did you make? quainted, and I struck up a conversation Changes I don't remember. But I know with this elder man. I told him where I there are AVMS changes, i.e., revisions, was from in New Mexico, and he told me restatements, reworking, etc. The first he had never been there, and then a bit changes probably happen even before it later, 2S WC leaned up against 2 Car, he is written. I think I wrote it down on a told me about Coso Hot Springs. He kept notepad, probably very briefly, perhaps repeating the phrase, "That's the place only the central/focal point, "that's the Indians talk about, that's the place." And place." Something that would recreate it struck me how important that "place" for me the essences of not only the was not only as 2 physical, geographical words, language, ideas but also the im- locale but also the "place" thatis age of the elderly Paiute man, the setting, spiritual, that is historical, emotional fact my reactions. Sometime after I must have and experience. And then it is all tied written more of a complete narrative together and is made imme, ite in the which I would designate as a poem, I sense that we wtre at this meeting and made more defmite changes. In this case, that we were talking together. And, even the changes had to do with expanding more important and significant, this is upon the varied meaning of "places." the very way of life that Indian peopl That is, I WaS more specific about the know and must make 2 statement about. meanings, making c!Stinctions. For ex- So the poem is basically that, 2 statement ample, the first meaning is terrestrial, a which iS a political cultural stand. For physical place, a hot springs in the lower me, conversations have always been im- California Sierras. That's the place th.: portant beginning po!nts for me. I don't Paiute man told me that the people went mean speeches or orations, but ordinary to. Artes then he explained another mean- conversations that people have, when ing of that springs, that it Was 2 healing they are most intimately together in place, 2 spiritual setting where people language, when the dynamic of words, went to renew and reheal themselves. ideas, emotions, reactions are most Vital Where they sang, prayed, talked with the and immediate. How the voice is used, power of that place, the earth. And then wt.iat gestures are made, the setting, the it's 2 place in the sense of 2 dynamic rela- topic, etc., aii of these are important to tionship, i.e., the people talking, the the event of the "conversation," and ground talking, the stones moving

10 REST COPY AVAILABLE around. the people moving around. mood there as I want the reader and "Something is doing that." he said, and listener to be aware of the dynamic of I've heard many Indian people saying language and its power. From that point that in religious narrations and discus- on, I think my decision to structure the sions about life in gncral. And then, of poem in such a way as to make its con- course. I made an obvious refcrence, and clusion or climax obvious has to do most a point of it, to the "political" place that with the directed energy so far, strongly Indian people are talking about now. released through the "moving power" rebte that to the place that is physical, which is the place Indian people talk which is locked up behind government about. I think those are some of the more fences, and fun her expand or extend it obvious items I considered in deciding to the conclusive meaning, the pbce that upon the changes after I had drafted the will be arrived at. i.e., the "place of poem and having decided how it might moving power of the eanh, voice, peo- best work. ple. So changes here had most to do with the effect I wanted "place" to have, having the various meanings come strongly What techniques did you use? apparent, be directed specifically, always The main technique I am aware of being aware of the overall impact I whenever I read the poem aloud is the wanted the poem to have. narrate, because that is the way I heard How revisions arc made have to do it in the original experience, the event of with decisions affecting specific focus. the conversation and the dialogue held. especially visual images used in the The namtive technique, which to me is poem. I wanted water, ground, ilk.% and simply the storytelling style of talking, is hands, faces to be very apparent, and very effective because it provides its own then later on, the image of the fence and setting, the particular mood intended, locks to make a point. The same way and requires a certain immediacy of with the words that show action, move- language which is provided by the tnent, the verbs such as "talk."' drink. storyteller or narrator. In this particular pray, sing, and funher the phrases, "rat- poem the narrator is the poet and the tling in the ground," "the ground is hot character of the elderly Paiute man and and shaking," "the people arc right eventually the poem's voice itself. ln try- there," "we will talk to the power ing to render the voice of the namtive again," concluding with "pretty soon it poem most effectively, i.e., in c:cating will come. It will come." These words the experience of the poem. I'm aware and phrases, images and action verbs are of the panicular words used for their chosen very deliberately and placed in sound and motion, the images conveyed, the order that will most completely the special nuances and emphasis of achieve the effect and meaning I intend. language as spoken by the narrator, and It builds up to the "place" that is meant, the patterns or rhythms of speech. First, the meanings and message that I intend. I think I wanted a cenain kind of formali- Decisions have to do with selection of ty, like in a mcditaticn or prayer, or even words, phrases, images, but it is more an oration though not strictly so except than that too. I wanted the poem to be to have the listener focus upon the meditative but also "active," in the sense words. Secondly, I intended for it to use that the reader can be inspi:ed to make what is most effective and beautiful a decision, feel something of the message about the oral tradition, that is the im- conveyed, and agree with the source of mediacy and intimacy of language. the "moving power." That's why I Spoken expression draws you into the dedded to end it v-ith the words "listen" center of expression and perception. and "hearing" c't prominently featured Thirdly, I wanted to create a distinct and intended to be reinforced by the pro- idcntity for the poem as a whole; I think cess that is involved in hearing and listen- it is imponant for that to happen in this ing. The poem isvery active and case. I wanted to make it special in terms energetic up to that point and then it of who "we" arc when I write: "When becomes combined with a meditative we pray. When we sing." So I say it very

47 1 1 obviously in "that's the Indian way." as Especially in identifying with this well as using repetition and certain tonal "place" that is significant in this poem. effects to achieve a ritual-chant prayer A couple of times when I have perform- poem. I did not want w iimit h, of ed thc poem, I have had people comc up course, to the poem only having an In- to me and say, "I know that place." dian identity, and "the Pecple" includes Once in Albuquerque, I read it and after- 211 people. Fouruily, the narrative techni- wards was approached by a Sioux man que stresses the rhythms of spoken from South Dakota. Hc was about eighty language, and that, to me, has to do with yea* old, and he said, "I know that place breathing (inhalation and exhalation se- you was talking about, I know it. And, quences), accents on certain words (em- initially thinking hc was referring to Coso phasis), body language in general. For ex- Hot Springs specifically. I asked him if ample, I hear and six "Listen, that's the hc'd been thcrc at thc place. He said hc way you hear." and "Hearing, that's the had and told mc that whcn hc was a boy way you listen" very clearly in terms of this high about a hundred years ago breathing, emphasis, and body motion. (laughing) an old man said to him: come I can't remember exactly what the Paiute here. When he walked over the old man man did in our conversation but 1 ....an started to unravel a tanned hide bundle almost sec his hand and arm movements and finally arrived at a small black stonc and thc particular breathing that accom- at thc center of thc bundle. The old man panied the words. This last point is said. "Don't touch it, lust look at it," and especially important for me to consider hc put it on thc ground and hc said, when I try to write a poem and deliver Listen to it and talk to it, that's thc power it orally. I "sound" om the words and of thc earth, that's the place. I've bcen stanzas as I write them down, so that I thcre, I know that place, thc Sioux man become aware of thc weight of the said to me. So he had becn there though sounds and syllables and rhythms of not tc., Coso Hot Springs. Hc knew that speech. line lengths arc dedded upon ac- place that is common to us. that exists cordingly, and. in fact, when I do a in all of us. that we all share with our reading this poem is especially engross- concerns. It is something that we can ity, physically, almost demanding of all identify with. that place. And as I said. my energy, and I have to take a long deep it docs not mean onlv Indian people. breath when I finish. I think that I try to Another time when I read it, a young listen to everything that the poem is tell- woman came up to mc and said, "I know ing me when I am writing it down. that man." I smilom, knowing what shc Maybe that isthc main principle meant. Shc mc-am the Paiute man, of listening and hearingI am awale of coursc, but also someone familiar and when I write certain poems. After I warm to us, someone beloved and very finished thc poem, I became aware that dear. We all know that person, man or thc narrative style changed when woman, because "that place tha* Indians reference was made to thc "fcncc around talk about" has sustained us and will also Hot Springs" and hevA.ne awkward always sustain us if we cherish and how! add harsh but regained it's meditative it. As a poet, it is importam for me w composure in the last two s;anzas. This strive to have my poems reestablish and is some evidence that the poet sometimes reaffwm rdationships among ourselves as isn't always aware of thc techniques in- a community of people and that com- volved in writing, but something is hap- munity to know itself in relationship to pening intuitively at any rate and is ef- all other forms of life, especially the land. fective in creating poetic impact. My audience in that sensc is that community of land and people. I think I regard this view as a main principle VV.ho was your audience? bchind my writing efforts, i.e., why I Anybody who reads, listens, feels. write. Hopefully this is achieved to somc Anybody, but maybe Indian people par- measure in this particular poem. ticularly since I always try w focus apon thcrelationships among all of us.

48 1 2 an this poem be paraphrased? what will take away life, when it is In several instances, I have paraphras . against the government fence all around ed the poem, and it can be done because Coso Hot Springs. Much of Native of the narrative technique upon which it American poeby is poetry of protest, is based. It is like a story which can be resistance poetry, part of the liberation retold and tr.tde anew each time it is and decolonization movement which is told. I think it can be dt 1e especially in worldwide. Resistance and liberation terms of the intent of the poem, reflec- literature has been an important element ting upo% the philosophy behind the in the struggles of former colonized theme expressed by the phrase, "that's peoples to affirm their national lands, the place Indian people talk about." It Cultures, and governments. Poetry can be related to other expressions of spoken and written by indigenous and one's awareness of community, the en- oppressed populations in Africa, Asia, vironment, and cultural attitudes. Latin America, and the Mid-East has in- Although it has a partiPular Indian iden- spired the overall social struggles and tity, it certainly relates to de. concerns movementsforliberationand felt by all those who have concern for the democracy. Naturally, this inspiration earth and the social and political strug- has been labelled dangerous in many gle involved in expressing it. When the cases-and unliterary and unpoetic as poem is paraphrased, this concern well-because it challenges the establish- becomes evident I feel because of the in- ed oppressive ruling powers that be. herent strength, sincerity, and direct Native American poets who speak from nature of its theme. At least, I hope so. a tradition of resistance against oppres- Other examples can be brought up which sion are speaking for land and life; their help the paraphrased poem along. There pcems, personal and soda!, are political. should be no problem in paraphrasing That's the place Indian people taik about. the poem. Survival Apersonal comment In hexasyllabks This poem is a political poem because it makes a stand for what is important to me and to others: for land and people by Elizabeth Cook-Lynn and life. It is important, I think, to identify the poem as such so there will be no At night, startled by the doubt. When that elder Paiute man, the snowy owl who flees her ex-migrant laborer and rangerider said, perch I waken to the "That's the plate Indian people talk sharp sound of sleet against about," he meant to convey a political the cedar MC above message, a very direct, simple, clear the spring: improbable message. There was no mistaking what songs by keepers of the wind recede toward mountains, he meant. There is no mistaking what In- vacant voices in the dian people have meant in their defense rain holding to the sway of land and life. There is no mistaking the in our own modern world moving power of the voice, earth, and of ghosts upon the land. the people. Often we hear that poetry is made "less poetic" if it expresses and in- Discomposed ;n the wake sists upon a political point of view and of a vicious winter purpose, but I suspect that designation rain storm the cedar tree is made by those who do not want to above the spring Walls hear the truth spoken by those who de- the stages of its own fend the earth. How can there be no Mini needles. Yet, the poetry in the voice that speaks for the exact memory of a doomed universe is very essence, the moving power, of life? undecipherable, Poetry is a way of engendering life, and surreal. Overcoming that is a political stand when it is against my fear I rise to close

49 1 3 BEST COPY AVAILABLE the window, streaked and wet. the reccnt birth of my grandson whowas the holy winds are Sent baptized" in the old traditional way of to remind me I am the ancestors. I had no idea where to go transient, adverse. mortal. from there with the poem. The best I Can do is Coincidentally,that nightIwas listen to this oldest awakened in the middle of the night by version of the story. a hcavy wind and rain storm and I was In the dawn light, mountains frightened by some curious sounds like cradle the breath of the a huge bird flapping around outside in cedar tree above the the darkness. I peered out the window spring, dtoplets taking that but could see nothing. The storm seem- places on peeled limbs like ed to just go on and on and I stood on dancerskorn anancient an upstairs deck looking into the woad. prelude to ritual. darkness for a long time. I was conscious of the cedar tree also standing in the Later I dry cuttings darkness, listening, waiting for the storm taken from the cedar to end. tree above the spring and The next morning, thestormhad sub- hold in precise regard the sacred smudging of sided, the sun was shining, and I work- limbs and hair. a tribal ed for quite a while at my typewriter. art meticulously wrote: restored in our ni3ht dreams. Sacred smudging of limbs and hair is a tribal art worth believing in. In the wake of a winter ram storm. the cuttings How did this poem begin? from the cedar tree abom the spring. Like This poem began because I wanted to dancers taking their places in an ancient say something about a cedar tree which world give eianks for I can see from the window as I sit at my I lost the drift of my thoughts, so I typewriter. It is the only cedar in a forest started again. The next attempt looked of pines. The poem started without an like this: idea and without an event, two of the Ever green. most important components of many of timeIes. ihe cedar tree above thr spring Holds an indecipbetable (undecipherable)) world my poems. I typed the beginning lines in the memory of its own "The Cedar Tree Above The Spring" as fallen needles. memory of a the title of the poem although I rarely burdened universe: begin a poem with the title and perhaps the cedar tree above the spring. should have known that something else surrounding mountains cradling its would emerge as the substance of the breath, repeats the messages poem. As it turned out, this phrase later sent by holy winds to tell us we will emerged as the repetitive refrain within live to a ripe old age. It is the poem and I gave the poem the title the repeated cuttings from the cedar tree "Survival." above the spring that assures us of To say something about the "ideas" a final smudgings of limbs andKIK asacred art, the dancers take their places which emerged, it is probably important in an ancient world for the reader to know that cedar is used in the purification rituals of the Dakotapi (Sioux Indians) and if the reader thinks What chanrs did you make? about what that means it will help him First drafts of poems are rarely satis- or her to discover how some of the con- fying (though I have on a couple of oc- tentcameabout in the writing process. casions sat down at the typewriter and Indeed, the next lines that I typed found that the lines were all there, intact, responded to thatcultural idea of ready.) and in the case of "Survival," I purification with smoke from burning was at this point muddled in my think- cedar; they were "sacred smudging of ing, and disappointed that what I wanted limbs and hair is a tribal art worth believ- to say was inaccessible. As I looked at the ing in," and I certainly was thinking of lines,Ifeta thatI was leaving out

50 14 BEST COPY AMBLE something important, i.e.the event of plication, I think, is misleading. Yet, the storm which had been included in there is a way for a poet to discus! the the first six-line attempt. I decided to "principles of technique" and how they start with that and re-arrange some of the emerged in the process of writing a given other materials: poem. In my case, much of what I think the cedar tree above the sprIng might be called "technique' arises from At night what I know and want to express con- startkd by the cerning Dakotah beliefs and values and snow owl who flees her perch experiences and imagination. DaV)tah I waken to the sound of sleeting fain against ritual is always important to me but I the cedar tree above the spring. I waken don't employ ritualistic "techniques" to the song of keepers of the ash, to the sway of ghosts upon the land. unless you would consider the repetitive refrain the cedar tree above the spring in I stand at tbe window loft and listen that category. Ordinarily, I find repeti- to the re-telling of the story. Surrounding tion useful as a technique. Too, the mountains cradle ks breath, give thank' "techniques" of storytelling are always for the survival of a burdened universe. useful, i.e., description, event, character. Robert Penn Warren, the revered man of Discomposed American letters, once said that short in II._ walce of a stories destroy poems and since I am a winter fain storm short story writer as well as a poet, I am the cedar tree above the spring recovers the memory of its own fallen needles considering the significance of his and holds in precise regard the messages remark. I vety often create poems and sem by holy winds to tell me I will short stories from the same sources live to a ripe old ap. although that might be a topic for another and different critical essay. The sacred smudging of limbs and hair When I was writing this poem, "Sur- is a tribal art worth believing in. vival," I was reminded of the Dakotah Repeated cuttings from the cedar tree above the beliefs about wind and "hailstones." I stating assure us that the was reminded in my own imagination of dancers take their places the idea that stones (like hailstones) come in an ancient world. scattering on the tipi and Dakotah holy It was at this point that I had started men sit in the darkness of the tipi with to grasp the idea but that my poem lack- no door open and Dakotahs believe that ed form, structure. In desperation, I the stones can come inside and interact decided upon syllabic form and arbitrari- with the singers. It is an ancient ritual ly chose hexasyllables. Any port in the known among us and it continues to ex- storm (no pun intended). Although this press important beliefs about the fusing poem went through many more changes of human power and natural power. and I probably worked at it oft and on Because I am a Dakotah female I would for a couple of months. it was at this tiot personally participate in such a thing stage that the poem was nearly accessi- but my imagination of what it all means ble to mc. is what assisted me in finding out what I wanted to say in the poem. I am not What techniques did you use? sure if this "process of imagination" can Modern teachers and critics of poetry be called "technique," but I think it is often speak of "technique" when very likely inseparable from technique. discussing poetry but I rarely know what Now, how to translate that into a is meant by that term unless it is pointed "systematic procedure" for writing is out to me in specific instances. In general something that cannot be spedfically ex- discussion, "technique" has to do with pressed. How to make this imagination "how" something is accomplished, or accessible certainly takes concentration "the way" something is done. This im- but, more sensibly, the important thing plies that there is a systematic procedure to recognize is that the creative arts can- by whicb-a_poem is created and that im- not be generalized. That is the nature of

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poetry. Imagination 3ccessibility certain- speculation concerning the fusing of ly takes concentration and it is this con- human power with the natural power of centration which produces technique. the universe and in speculating about To quote Stephen Spender. "Concentra- that, some of the beliefs concerning the tion, of course, for the purpose of wind are alluded to in the poem. I do not writing poetry, is different from the kind want to be too specific about that of concentration required for working because I am only a poet but the lines out a sum. It is a focusing of the atten- "the holy winds are sent to remind me tion in a special way, so that the poet is I am transient, adverse, mortal," the aware of all the implications and possi- thought which came to me as I stood in ble developments of his idea. Just as one the darkness that winter evening is clear- rnight say that a plant was not concen- ly expressing a long-standing phil- trating on developing mechanically in osophical concept of the Dakotapi. one direction, but in many directions, toward the warmth and light with all its leaves and towards the water with its roots, all at the same time." ("The Mak- ing of a Poem," by Stephen Spender "Partisan Review," XIII Summer, 1946) So it is that different poets concentrate in different ways, and my own individual way of concentration generally comes from what I know as a Dakotah woman. The significant event of this poem, "Survival," that is the winter rain storm turned out to be most important as a point of concentration for it is in this darkness that the poet in me awakens to some sort of truth or consciousness and it is in this truth that I survive and that I see cultural survival, thus, the title finally emerges. I suppose I am saying that survival is possible because I recognize the importance of an old purification ritual using cedar cuttings. That means, probably that this is a religious poem, at least it expresses a kind of cultural religious survival and perhaps even a personal one. That surprises me because I do not consider myself a religious person. Northrup Frye in Fables of Identity said: "It is in the daylight that mankind Is really in the power of darknos." By default, then, I think I am saying in this poem that it is in the darkness of such a winter rain storm that we can come to know who we are, something like the holy men who sit in the darkness of the tipi Come tO know about the power of the natural world and the last lines of the poem "a tribal art (is) meticulously rertored in our night dreams" affirms that. As I said before, I am always interested in the power of ritual and in this case the

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