In this Book
- Tributaries
- Book
- 2015
- Published by: University of Arizona Press
- Series: Sun Tracks
summary
In Tributaries, poet Laura Da’ lyrically surveys Shawnee history alongside personal identity and memory. With the eye of a storyteller, Da’ creates an arc that flows from the personal to the historical and back again. In her first book-length collection, Da’ employs interwoven narratives and perspectives, examines cultural archetypes and historical documents, and weaves rich images to create a shifting vision of the past and present.
Precise images open to piercing meditations of Shawnee history. In the present, a woman watches the approximation of a scalping at a theatrical presentation. Da’ writes, “Soak a toupee with cherry Kool-Aid and mineral oil. / Crack the egg onto the actor’s head. / Red matter will slide down the crown / and egg shell will mimic shards of skull.” This vivid image is paired with a description of the traditional removal path of her own Shawnee ancestors through small towns in Ohio.
These poems range from the Midwestern landscapes of Ohio and Oklahoma to the Pacific Northwest, and the importance of place is apparent. Tributaries simultaneously offers us an extended narrative rumination on the impact of Indian policy and speaks to the contemporary experiences of parenthood and the role of education in passing knowledge from one generation to the next. This collection is composed of four sections that come together to create an important new telling of Shawnee past and present.
Precise images open to piercing meditations of Shawnee history. In the present, a woman watches the approximation of a scalping at a theatrical presentation. Da’ writes, “Soak a toupee with cherry Kool-Aid and mineral oil. / Crack the egg onto the actor’s head. / Red matter will slide down the crown / and egg shell will mimic shards of skull.” This vivid image is paired with a description of the traditional removal path of her own Shawnee ancestors through small towns in Ohio.
These poems range from the Midwestern landscapes of Ohio and Oklahoma to the Pacific Northwest, and the importance of place is apparent. Tributaries simultaneously offers us an extended narrative rumination on the impact of Indian policy and speaks to the contemporary experiences of parenthood and the role of education in passing knowledge from one generation to the next. This collection is composed of four sections that come together to create an important new telling of Shawnee past and present.
Table of Contents
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- Acknowledgments
- pp. vii-2
- The Always Frontier
- Earth Mover
- p. 5
- Raven Talks Curriculum
- pp. 7-10
- The Tecumseh Motel
- pp. 13-14
- American Towns
- pp. 15-18
- Lazarus Shale: The Period of Removal
- Five Songs for Lazarus Shale
- pp. 21-25
- Hived Bees in Winter
- pp. 26-33
- Bread Dancing in Indian Territory
- pp. 34-37
- Advice to an Indian Agent
- pp. 39-40
- Poor Lazarus
- p. 41
- Lazarus Riding Home
- pp. 42-44
- Lazarus' Children: Severalty
- Winter Dance of the Oldest Child
- pp. 48-50
- Irreversibility
- pp. 55-56
- Audubon and the Shawnee Swans
- pp. 57-58
- No Longer
- Baselining
- p. 63
- The Butterfly Effect
- p. 64
- The Myth of the West
- p. 65
- Raven Gets Meta
- pp. 66-67
- Sixth Grade
- p. 68
- Passive Voice
- p. 69
- Wars of Attrition
- p. 70
Additional Information
ISBN
9780816531790
Related ISBN(s)
9780816531554
MARC Record
OCLC
903861132
Pages
88
Launched on MUSE
2015-02-21
Language
English
Open Access
No
Copyright
2015