In this Book
- Cell Traffic: New and Selected Poems
- Book
- 2012
- Published by: University of Arizona Press
- Series: Sun Tracks
summary
Cell Traffic presents new poems and uncollected prose poetry along with selected work from award-winning poet Heid Erdrich's three previous poetry collections. Erdrich's new work reflects her continuing concerns with the tensions between science and tradition, between spirit and body. She finds surprising common ground while exploring indigenous experience in multifaceted ways: personal, familial, biological, and cultural. The title, Cell Traffic, suggests motion and Erdrich considers multiple movements-cellular transfer, the traffic of DNA through body parts and bones, "migration" through procreation, and the larger "movements" of indigenousness and ancestral inheritance.
Erdrich's wry sensibility, sly wit, and keenly insightful mind have earned her a loyal following. Her point of view is always slightly off center, and this lends a particular freshness to her poetry. The debunking and debating of the science of origins is one of Erdrich's focal subjects. In this collection, she turns her observational eye to the search for a genetic mother of humanity, forensic anthropology's quest for the oldest known bones, and online offers of genetic testing. But her interests are not limited to science. She freely admits popular culture into her purview as well, referencing sci-fi television series and Internet pop-up ads.
Table of Contents
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- Acknowledgments
- pp. xvii-2
- I. Chimeras
- Thrifty Gene, Lucky Gene
- pp. 5-6
- Brain Scan
- pp. 7-28
- Mitochondrial Eve
- pp. 8-29
- DNA Tribes
- pp. 9-30
- Microchimerism
- pp. 11-13
- Define Chimera
- pp. 14-35
- Now, What Is She?
- pp. 15-36
- Blood Chimera
- pp. 16-37
- II. Cannibals
- Fur Trade Tokens
- pp. 19-20
- Now, Where Was She?
- pp. 21-42
- Wiindigo Pity
- pp. 22-43
- Own Your Own: Cellular Changes
- pp. 23-44
- The Love that Dares
- pp. 25-46
- Seven Mothers
- pp. 26-47
- Tick Check
- pp. 27-48
- III. Tourists
- Indigenous Elvis at the Airport
- pp. 33-54
- Thoughts of Kids Interrupt My Work
- pp. 38-59
- Own Your Own: The Papergirl
- pp. 39-40
- Just off the Highway
- pp. 41-62
- Quiet Cupboard
- pp. 42-44
- IV. Traffickers
- Now, Where Was She, Too?
- pp. 48-69
- Interrogated Self
- pp. 49-50
- Again, Today
- pp. 54-75
- Cold Climate
- pp. 55-76
- Paint These Streets
- pp. 58-60
- Uncollected Work (2006–2011)
- pp. 61-62
- I. Prose Poems and Translations
- The Shapes We Make
- pp. 65-86
- How We Walk
- pp. 68-89
- How We Talk
- pp. 73-94
- How We Eat
- pp. 78-99
- II. Prose Poems
- Preeminent Gooseberry Bakwezhiigan
- pp. 85-86
- Dancer Origin Story
- pp. 88-89
- Dancer in Twin Voices
- pp. 90-91
- Utopia Hawk
- pp. 92-113
- Indigenous Foods Allowed in Utopia
- pp. 94-115
- Red Vines: Lines for Deloria
- pp. 95-96
- III. Prose Originals
- Quiet Cupboard
- pp. 99-100
- Selected Work (1997–2008)
- pp. 103-104
- from 'National Monuments' (2008)
- Black and White Monument, Photo Circa 1977
- pp. 109-112
- Grand Portage
- pp. 113-134
- Post-Barbarian
- pp. 114-135
- Some Elsie
- pp. 115-136
- In Search of Jane’s Grave
- pp. 116-117
- The Theft Outright
- pp. 118-119
- Elsie Drops Off the Dry Cleaning
- pp. 120-141
- Full Bodied Semi-Sestina
- pp. 124-125
- Body Works
- pp. 126-127
- Kennewick Man Tells All
- pp. 128-149
- Kennewick Man Attempts Cyber-date
- pp. 129-150
- Kennewick Man Swims Laps
- pp. 130-131
- Prisoner No. 280
- pp. 132-133
- Girl of Lightning
- pp. 135-136
- from 'The Mother’s Tongue' (2005)
- Offering: Words
- pp. 139-160
- She Dances
- pp. 140-161
- This Body, The River
- pp. 142-163
- Craving, First Month
- pp. 144-165
- Offering: The Child
- pp. 145-166
- First Rice
- pp. 147-168
- What Pregnant Is Like
- pp. 148-169
- Young Poets with Roman Noses
- pp. 149-150
- Another Touch
- pp. 151-172
- Nesting Dolls
- pp. 152-173
- Craving Release
- pp. 153-174
- Sisters Stay On the Other Side
- pp. 154-175
- Offering: Ojibwe
- pp. 157-178
- Craving: Bitter Root
- pp. 158-179
- Vermillion Hands Petroglyph
- pp. 160-181
- Our Words Are Not Our Own
- pp. 161-182
- Poem for Our Ojibwe Names
- pp. 162-163
- In the Belly
- pp. 164-185
- Changeling
- pp. 165-186
- Wiisah kote: The Burnt Wood People
- pp. 167-188
- The Good Woman
- pp. 169-170
- from 'Fishing for Myth (1997)
- Breaking and Entering
- pp. 174-195
- The Red River of the North
- pp. 175-176
- Fat in America
- pp. 183-204
- That Green Night
- pp. 184-205
- Sex in the Desert
- pp. 186-207
- Hopi Prophet Chooses a Pop
- pp. 187-188
- Wearing Indian Jewelry
- pp. 189-210
- Turtle Rattle
- pp. 190-211
- Translation
- pp. 191-212
- TV News: Detox Closed
- pp. 193-194
- The Visible Woman
- pp. 195-216
- Future Debris
- pp. 196-217
- About the Author
- p. 225
Additional Information
ISBN
9780816599745
Related ISBN(s)
9780816530083
MARC Record
OCLC
830085681
Pages
224
Launched on MUSE
2014-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No
Copyright
2012