38

Here, the sentence will be respected. I will composed each sentence with care by minding what the rules of writing dictate. For example, all sentences will begin with capital letters. Likewise, the history of the sentence will be honored by ending each one with appropriate punctuation such as a period or a question mark, thus bringing the idea to (momentary) completion. You may like to know, I do not consider this a “creative piece.” I do not regard this as a poem of great imagination or a work of fiction. Also, historical events will not be dramatized for an interesting read. Therefore, I feel most responsible to the orderly sentence; conveyor of thought. That said, I will begin. You may or may not have heard about the Dakota 38. If this is the first time you've heard of it, you might wonder, “What is the Dakota 38?” “The Dakota 38” refers to the thirty-eight Dakota men who were executed by hanging, under orders from President Abraham Lincoln. To date, this is the largest “legal” mass execution in U.S. history. The hanging took place on December 26th, 1862—the day after Christmas. This was the same week that President Lincoln signed The Emancipation Proclamation. In the preceding sentence, I italicize “same week” for emphasis. There was a movie titled Lincoln about the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. The signing of The Emancipation Proclamation was included in the film Lincoln; the hanging of the Dakota 38 was not. In any case, you might be asking, “Why were thirty-eight Dakota men hung?” As a side note, the past tense of hang is hung, but when referring to the capital punishment of hanging, the correct tense is hanged. So it's possible that you're asking, “Why were thirty-eight Dakota men hanged?” They were hanged for The Sioux Uprising. I want to tell you about The Sioux Uprising, but I don't know where to begin. I may jump around and details will not unfold in chronological order. Keep in mind, I am not a historian. So I will recount facts as best I can, given limited resources and understanding. Before Minnesota was a state, the Minnesota region, generally speaking, was the traditional homeland for Dakota, Anishinaabeg and Ho-Chunk people. During the 1800s, when the U.S. expanded territory, they “purchased” land from the Dakota people a well as the other tribes. But another way to understand the sort of “purchase” is: Dakota leaders ceded land to the U.S. Government in exchange for money and goods, but most importantly, the safety of their people. Some say that Dakota leaders did not understand the terms they were entering, or they never would have agreed. Even others call the entire negotiation, “trickery.” But to make whatever-it-was official and binding the U.S. Government drew up an initial treaty. This treaty was later replaced by another (more convenient) treaty, and then another. I've had difficulty unraveling the terms of these treaties, given the legal speak and congressional language. As treaties were abrogated (broken) and new treaties were drafted, one after another, the new treaties often referenced old defunct treaties and it is a muddy, switchback trail to follow. Although I often feel lost on this trail, I know I am not alone. However, as best as I can put the facts together, in 1851, Dakota territory was contained to a twelve-mile by one-hundred-fifty-mile-long strip along the Minnesota river. But just seven years later, in 1858, the northern portion was ceded (taken) and the southern portion was (conveniently) allotted, which reduced Dakota land to a stark ten-mile tract. These amended and broken treaties are often referred to as The Minnesota Treaties. The word Minnesota comes from mni which means water; sota which means turbid. Synonyms for turbid include muddy, unclear, cloudy, confused and smoky. Everything is in the language we use. For example, a treaty is, essentially, a contract between two sovereign nations. The U.S. treaties with the Dakota Nation were legal contracts that promised money. It could be said, this money was payment for the land the Dakota ceded; for living within assigned boundaries (a reservation); and for relinquishing rights to their vast hunting territory which, in turn, made Dakota people dependent on other means to survive; money. The previous sentence is circular, which is akin to so many aspects of history. As you may have guessed by now, the money promised in the turbid treaties did not make it into the hands of the Dakota people. In addition, local government traders would not offer credit to “Indians” to purchase food or goods. Without money, store credit or rights to hunt beyond their ten-mile tract of land, Dakota people began to starve. The Dakota people were starving. The Dakota people starved. In the preceding sentence, the word “starved” does not need italics for emphasis. One should read, “The Dakota people starved,” as a straightforward and plainly stated fact. As a result—and without other options but to continue to starve—Dakota people retaliated. Dakota warriors organized, struck out and killed settlers and traders. This revolt is called The Sioux Uprising. Eventually, the U.S. Cavalry came to Mnisota to confront the Uprising. More than one thousand Dakota people were sent to prison. As already mentioned, thirty-eight Dakota men were subsequently hanged. After the hanging, those one thousand Dakota prisoners were released. However, as further consequence, what remained fo Dakota territory in Mnisota was dissolved (stolen). The Dakota people had no land to return to. This means they were exiled. Homeless, the Dakota people of Mnisota were relocated (forced) onto reservations in South Dakota and Nebraska. Now, every year, a group called The Dakota 38 + 2 Riders conduct a memorial horse rider from Lower Brule, South Dakota to Mankato, Mnisota. The Memorial Riders travel 325 miles on horseback for eighteen days, sometimes through sub-zero blizzards. They conclude their journey on December 26, the day of the hanging. Memorials help focus our memory on particular people or events. Often, memorials come in the forms of plaques, statues or gravestones. The memorial for the Dakota 38 is not an object inscribed with words, but an act. Yet, I started this piece because I was interested in writing about grasses. So, there is one other event to include, although it's not in chronological order and we must backtrack a little. When the Dakota people were starving, as you may remember, government traders would not extend store credit to “Indians.” One trader named Andrew Myrick is famous for his refusal to provide credit to Dakotas by saying, “If they are hungry, let them eat grass.” There are variations on Myrick's words, but they are all something to that effect. When settlers and traders were killed during the Sioux Uprising, one of the first to be executed by the Dakota was Andrew Myrick. When Myrick's body was found, his mouth was stuffed with grass. I am inclined to call this act by the Dakota warriors a poem. There's irony in their poem. There was no text. “Real” poems do not “really” require words. I have italicized the previous sentence to indicate inner dialogue, a revealing moment. But, on second thought, the particular words "Let them eat grass" click the gears of the poem into place. So, we could also say, language and word choice are crucial to the poem's work. Things are circling back again. Sometimes, when in a circle, if I wish to exit, I must leap. And let the body　　　　　　　swing. From the platform. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Out 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　to the grasses.

— Layli Long Soldier (1973–)

When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry (2020)

FAT GREEN FLIES // Gerald Vizenor

                    fat green flies     square dance across the grapefruit                   honor your partner

Book 41 of the 50 book challenge. When the light of the world was subdued our songs came through edited by Joy Harjo. This is anthology of Native American poets from many different tribes and starts in the 1700’s til now. The authors are separated by region, and it’s really interesting book. I enjoyed reading their words. I recommend it highly.

Reading List Game

I was tagged by @thelettersfromnoone. Thanks for the tag, friend!❤️ So here we go.

What are your recent, current, and future reads?

Recent:

Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan (reread) + the graphic novel version which I had not read before

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Once Upon a December by Amy E. Reichert

Game of Thrones by George RR Martin

The Ex-Mas Holidays by Zoe Allison

The Professor's Secret by mrspeetamellark

Have Your Cake and Eat It Too by c-r-roberts (reread)

Forbidden Love by mega-aulover

A Blind Date with Santa by MTK4FUN

Current:

The League of Gentlewomen Witches by India Holton

The Islands by Dionne Irving

When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through edited by Joy Harjo

The Chance You Didn't Take by ronja

Enthralled by damndonnergirls

THG Season of Hope 2023 entries by various

Future:

Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood

Clash of Kings by George RR Martin

Becoming by Michelle Obama

The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan (reread) and the graphic novel version which, as with SoM, I haven't yet read

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

Be That Way by Hope Larson

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen because I have somehow never read this one???? I swore I'd read all of hers but apparently not???? #Travesty #For SHAME kdnfb

A House United by shesasurvivor

The Firebird by merciki

Behind Blue Eyes by maxwellandlovelace

The Odds by mollywog

EDIT I CANNOT BELIEVE I FORGOT THIS ONE! MORE FOR SHAME ON KDNFB.... ahem Hunger Games par Suzanne Collins (l'édition française)

The first three of the future fanfictions on my list are all ones that I've started reading and then, for one reason or another that has nothing to do with the stories or writers themselves, I got pulled away from finishing them. So I am determined. They're getting read this year.

Tagging to play if you want to! : @pookieh, @awhiskeyriver, @bellairestrella, @distractionsfromthefood, @pitualba2015, @mega-aulover, @jroseley and anyone else who would like to play!

13 books tag game

Tagged by @what_alchemy and am finally getting around to answering!

1) The last book I read:

Last one I finished was Linda Tirado's Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America. Most of the nonfiction I read is well done but not super cheerful. Anyway, if you don't already know how much it sucks to be poor in America, it'll give you a bit more insight into why this country Is How It Is, etc.

2) A book I recommend:

I recommended the His Dark Materials series to someone recently, as a sprawling fantasy series that would entertain a teenage girl but also their parent. This may have been the first book I read that had Canonical Gay Love in it, lmao.

3) A book that I couldn’t put down:

There There by Tommy Orange. The voices and relationships were so compelling that I couldn't stop reading until I knew what happened.

4) A book I’ve read twice (or more):

More than half of the books I own are ones I've read twice or more, haha. Hm. Let's list: Good Omens, Sense and Sensibility, Love Medicine, Wishful Drinking, On Writing....there are more but I'm visually blanking on the various sections of my bookshelf and everything I've ever read.

5) A book on my TBR:

What isn't on my TBR? The stacks are endless, but I just picked up Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine during a period of insomnia. So far I like it.

6) A book I’ve put down:

Too many to count, lmao. Sometimes I go through phases where I'll pick them back up because it wasn't the right time for me to read that thing. Mostly the ones that I don't like stay unfinished. I'll give it a couple of chapters, maybe.

7) A book on my wish list:

Sharp Objects is one I've meant to read forever and still have never opened. Does that count?

8) A favorite book from childhood:

L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series, but especially Anne of Windy Poplars and Anne of Ingleside, because I loved the idea of the baby Blythe kids having all these rural Canadian adventures. Also: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. If you know me it's less weird that I was reading all of these over and over in the same year.

9) A book you would give to a friend:

Depends on the friend! IMO, I don't have an automatic go-to book or author. I think the last book I gave as a gift was actually to my dad for Christmas -- Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. Also feel like I also do more book swaps with people, rather than gifting.

10) A book of poetry or lyrics that you own

Many poetry books in my house. The most recent poetry anthology I bought was When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came through because I love seeing what Indigenous poets do with form and style. Also picked up Fugitive/Refuge (Philip Metres) and Ancient Light (Kimberly Blaeser) at AWP this year, among others.

11) A nonfiction book you own:

Just bought Coming Out Republican: A History of the Gay Right because the author was interviewed in a newsletter I read regularly. Also: what are gay white men even doing being Republicans, etc.

12) What are you currently reading:

Ulysses, by James Joyce. And Moby Dick, although I'm not even out of the first third of the book yet.

13) What are you planning on reading next?

I have a collection by Mary Gaitskill that keeps itching at me, as well as a giant pile from AWP. Also think I'll be reading Beautyland, by Marie-Helene Bertino, very soon.

Tagging @terribleoldwhitemen @orbposting @adreadfulidea and anyone else who'd like to do this!

Nine people you'd like to get to know better

I was tagged by both @bluejayblueskies and @wordsintimeandspace!

Three ships

JonMartin of course, Aziraphale/Crowley, and Diggory/Percy

First ship

Okay, actually this is kind of hard? I remember shipping characters before I started writing fic (Addie and Rhys from The Two Princesses of Bamarre come to mind immediately lol), but I think Ron/Hermione might've been the first ship I wrote about when I was like 12

Last song

In Her Arms You Will Never Starve by Copeland

Currently reading

ho boy, so many. Okay let's see

Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey

Rogue, Set, Match by Manda Collins

At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie

Murder at Morrington Hall by Clara McKenna

Sunbringer by Hannah Kaner

All the Hidden Paths by Foz Meadows

When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through, edited by Joy Harjo

The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf -> this is a reread, because the author is coming to my town in a couple of weeks!

Black, Brown, Bruised by Ebony Omotola McGee

How Colleges Change by Adrianna Kezar -> for work

Last film

Mansfield Park (1999)

Currently Craving

A vanilla chai, which tbh I'm usually craving anymore. It's my go-to lil treat these days

No pressure friends! My nine tags are @morning-softness, @amberastra, @beesabuzzin, @0rosenstern0, @inthewild-flowers, @lolgmalolg-did-nothing-wrong, @shinyopals, @peri-scoop-da-loop, and @artificialdaydreamer

Current poetry reading is When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry, edited by former U.S. Poet Laureate (and Muscogee Nation member) Joy Harjo. It contains work by some 160 poets representing 600 indigenous nations, ranging all over the U.S. and its territories and from the 17th century to the present day. Really a marvelous book, and a window into a largely unappreciated, yet vital, poetic tradition.

Myth is neither fiction nor history. Myths are acted out in our own psyches, and they are repetitive and ongoing. "Beowulf, Siegfried, and the other dragon slayers are aspects of our own unconscious minds. The significance of their heroics should be apparent. We dispatched them with their symbolic swords and lances to slay reptile consciousness. The reptile brain is the dragon within us. "When, in evolutionary process, it became time to subdue mammalian consciousness, a less violent tactic was called for. Instead of Beowulf with his sword and bow, we manifested Jesus Christ with his message and example. (Jesus Christ, whose commandment 'Love thy enemy' has proven to be too strong a floral medicine for reptilian types to swallow; Jesus Christ, who continues to point out to job-obsessed mammalians that the lilies of the field have never punched time clocks.) "At the birth of Christ, the cry resounded through the ancient world, 'Great Pan is dead.' The animal mind was about to be subdued. Christ's mission was to prepare the way for floral consciousness. "In the East, Buddha performs an identical function. "It should be emphasized that neither Christ nor Buddha harbored the slightest antipathy toward Pan. They were merely fulfilling their mytho-evolutionary roles. "Christ and Buddha came into our psyches not to deliver us from evil but to deliver us from mammal consciousness. The good versus evil plot has always been bogus. The drama unfolding in the universe - in our psyches - is not good against evil but new against old, or, more precisely, destined against obsolete. "Just as the grand old dragon of our reptilian past had to be pierced by the hero's sword to make way for Pan and his randy minions, so Pan himself has had to be rendered weak and ineffectual, has had to be shoved into the background of our ongoing psychic progression. "Because Pan is closer to our hearts and our genitals, we shall miss him more than we shall miss the dragon. We shall miss his pipes that drew us, trembling, into the dance of lust and confusion. We shall miss his pranksterish overturning of decorum; the way he caused the blood to heat, the cows to bawl, and the wine to flow. Most of all, perhaps, we shall miss the way he mocked us, with his leer and laughter, when we took our blaze of mammal intellect too seriously. But the old playfellow has to go. We've known for two thousand years that Pan must go. There is little place for Pan's great stink amidst the perfumed illumination of the flowers. "Just recently, a chap turned up in New Orleans who may have been the prototype of the floral man. A Jamaican, they say, named Bingo Pajama, he sang songs, dealt in bouquets, laughed a lot, defied convention, and contributed to the production of a wonderful new scent. In some ways, he resembled Pan. Yet, Bingo Pajama smelled good. He smelled sweet. His floral brain was so active that it produced a sort of neocortical honey. It actually attracted bees. "When Western artists wished to demonstrate that a person was holy, they painted a ring of light around the divine one's head. Eastern artists painted a more diffused aura. The message was the same. The aura or the halo signified that the light was on in the subject's brain. The neocortex was fully operative. There is, however, a second interpretation of the halo. It can be read as a symbolized, highly stylized swarm of bees.

Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume

currently reading - 4/10/23

the pile of books I'm currently reading is absurdly large, so this is an accountability post/reading list for the next few weeks

~ Reviewing for NetGalley ~

The Wounded World: W.E.B Du Bois and the First World War by Chad L. Williams

Reproduction by Louisa Hall

Denison Avenue by Christina Wong

Tomb Sweeping by Alexandra Chang

~ Personal Reading ~

The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone by Olivia Laing

Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Trip to Echo Spring: On Writers and Drinking by Olivia Laing

Jewel by Beverly Jenkins

The Diary of Virginia Woolf - Vol. 1: 1915-1919 by Virginia Woolf

When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry edited by Joy Harjo

Another Mother Tongue: Gay Words, Gay Worlds by Judy Grahn

2023 Reading Plans:

Currently Reading:

Thought Forms - Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater

The Ghetto And Other Poems - Lola Ridge

Descended from a Travel-Worn Satchel - Chris La Tray

Horsefly Dress - Heather Cahoon

The World We Used To Live In - Vine Deloria Jr.

Roadside Geology of Montana - David Alt and Donald W Hyndman

To-Read Stack:

Braiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall Kimmerer

When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through - edited by Joy Harjo

Ancestor Approved - edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith

The Sentence - Louise Erdrich

The Stories We Tell - the Whitefish Review

People Before the Park - Sally Thompson, Kootenai Culture Committee & Pikunni Traditional Association

Lead from the Outside - Stacey Abrams

Re-Reading:

Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton

Contact - Carl Sagan

Empress of Forever - Max Gladstone

Hear the Dogs Crying

A recording of her voice, an old woman's voice full of gravel and lead steeped through the car radio. She spoke of gathering limu visitors on ships, and dusty roads in Wai'anae. In the distance you could almost hear the dogs crying, the mullet wriggling in the fish bag. Nostalgic for a tūtū I never knew, I feel the ocean pulse inside me waves rolling over, pushing me till I leap from this car through the congested H-1 across the noise and ashen sky emerge beneath the rains in Nu'uanu. I move past the fresh water ponds past the guava trees towards homes with flimsy tin roofs where my father, already late for school, races up Papakōlea with a kite made of fishing twine. Framed in a small kitchen window, tūtū scrapes the meat from awa skin for dinner tonight, wipes her hands on old flour bags for dish cloths. She is already small and watns to forget I may be too late— I have tomatoes and onion from the market, tūtū, my hand is out, my plate is empty and some bones for the dogs to stop their crying do you know my name? I am listening for your stories to call me in my hand is out, my plate is empty for your stories to show me the way tūtū, do you know my name?

— Christy Passion (1974–)

When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry (2020)

It is November and I can see my soul / slowly leaving my body every time I exhale.

— Heather Cahoon, from “Blonde,” When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through

The Milky Way Escapes My Mouth — Tanaya Winder

We work fast and steady and remember each breath alters the composition of the air.

Gail Tremblay, from Indian Singing in 20th Century America

Set the Night On Fire

Anarchy-- In a Manner of Speaking

Discovering Griffith Park

Antkind

When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through

Snacky Tunes

A Girl is a Body of Water

The Hour of the Star