Sun tracks

The weather--portrayed with vivid imagery--dominates this collection, set on the prairies. In Three Days Before Spring, Snow Again, he writes: "Wind is up again, / swirling and pushing around / like it had nowhere to go, / losing and finding things / and losing them again." By the author of Woven Stone.

The massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho women and children by U.S. soldiers at Sand Creek in 1864 was a shameful episode in American history, and its battlefield was proposed as a National Historic Site in 1998 to pay homage to those innocent victims. Through the pages of this sobering work, Ortiz offers a new perspective on history and on America. Perhaps more important, he offers a breath of hope that our peoples might learn from each other.

In a collage of journal entries, free-verse poems, and renderings of poems in the Acoma language, the renowned Native American poet draws on his 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.

Now it is My Turn to Stand. At Acoma Pueblo meetings, members rise and announce their intention to speak. In that moment they are recognized and heard. In Speaking for the Generations, Acoma Pueblo poet Simon Ortiz brings together contemporary Native American writers to take their turn. Each offers an evocation of herself or himself, describing the personal, social, and cultural influences on her or his development as a writer. Although each writer's viewpoint is personal and unique, together they reflect the rich tapestry of today's Native literature.

Twenty-one leading American Indian poets discuss the role of Native American culture in their work, the forces that shape contemporary Native American poetry, and the prospects of that poetry's surviving as a form apart from the poetry of the dominant culture.

Collection of poetry by the Acoma Indians taken from their native language and translated into English.