Native American Songs and Poems

DOVER THRIFT EDITIONS

 

GENERAL EDITOR: STANLEY APPELBAUM
EDITOR OF THIS VOLUME: STEVEN PALMÉ

 

 

Copyright

Copyright © 1996 by Dover Publications, Inc.

All rights reserved.

 

 

 

Bibliographical Note

Native American Songs and Poems: An Anthology
is a new work, first published by Dover Publications, Inc., in 1996.

 

 

Library of Congress Cataloging
-
in
-
Publication Data

Native American songs and poems : an anthology / edited by Brian Swann.

p. cm.—(Dover thrift editions)

Includes bibliographical references.

9780486112138

ISBN-10: 0-486-29450-1

1. American poetry—Indian authors. 2. Indians of North America—Songs and music—Texts. 3. Indian poetry—Translations into English. 4. Songs, American—Texts. I. Swann, Brian. II. Series.

PS591.155N37 1996
811.008'0897—dc20

96-24331

CIP

 

Manufactured in the United States by Courier Corporation
29450108
www.doverpublications.com

Native American literature is all of a piece, from traditional songs and ceremonies that continue to this day (see, for example, “Havasupai Medicine Song”) to the many poets who are now at the forefront of contemporary American literature. Like other poets, Native American poets write about all sorts of things, but tradition is a strong theme. So, when I invited participation in this venture, I wrote as follows: “I don't want to prescribe topics, but it might be a good idea to focus on the rich and complex theme of tradition and continuity, however you choose to treat it.” Readers can discover for themselves how the poets interpreted this suggestion.

While most poets choose to write and publish in English, others compose in their native tongue and translate into English. They do this even though they feel some loss since, as the Navajo Rex Lee Jim wrote me, “writing poems in Navajo is like painting with the tip of a slashing whip.” Ideally, poets writing in a native language would publish their poems in that language for, as Rex Lee Jim also said, “this would send a strong message that American Indian languages are alive and well, and active in the creation of American Indian literature.”

I have adapted the traditional “song-poems” from the originals identified in the References at the back of the book. They were chosen almost arbitrarily and, since they are only a small sample, there is an unavoidable attenuation of theme and subject. Several of the contemporary poems have been previously published, and the works in which they first appeared are also listed in the References section. Those not listed have never been published before, appearing for the first time in this volume. For more songs and fuller notes, I refer the reader to the two volumes of mine from which I took the traditional songs,
Song of the Sky: Versions of Native American Song-Poems
(University of Massachusetts Press, 1993) and
Wearing the Morning Star: Native American Song-Poems
(Random House, 1996). For some more contemporary Native American poetry, see Duane Niatum's
Harper's Anthology of Twentieth-century Native American Poetry
(Harper and Row, 1988).

I would like to dedicate this book to the memory of Professor Willard Thorp, in whose graduate seminar at Princeton over thirty years ago my interest in American literature was kindled.

[SEMINOLE]

let
the
child
be
born
circling around You day-sun
you wrinkled skin circling around
circling around you daylight
you flecked with gray circling around
circling around you night sun
you wrinkled age circling around
circling around you poor body

[SEMINOLE]

Come back
Before you get to the king-tree
Come back
Before you get to the peach-tree
Come back
Before you get to the line of fence
Come back
Before you get to the bushes
Come back
Before you get to the fork in the road
Come back
Before you get to the yard
Come back
Before you get to the door
Come back
Before you get to the fire
Come back
Before you get to the middle of the ladder
Come back

[HOPI]

young corn-plants
in flower
a bean-patch
in blossom
under blue clouds
water will shine
after rain

 

Look
a throng of yellow flowers
yellow butterflies
chasing
one
another
through the bean-blossoms
blue butterflies
chasing
one
another

[NAVAJO]

His voice so grand
the turquoise horse of Johano-ai
³
Rich blankets and hides
hides of the buck, the beaver, buffalo and mountain lion
woven blankets
are spread
for his feet
Rich tips of flower-blossoms
Johano-ai
feeds him
spring water
snow water
hail water
water from the world's four quarters
Now
when he walks
grains of shining dust cloud him
when he gallops
the sun's pollen
coats him in a mist
Now
the herds of Johano-ai
increase for ever

[NAVAJO]

they start
towards me
to my song
I am
now
a glossy blackbird
from Black Mountain
on top
where the trail starts
coming
now among flowers of all kinds
coming
now in among the dew
now
among the pollen
coming
now
right there
the deer
startled
turning
left foot first
the male
right first
the female
the quarry
they
want me

[NAVAJO]

the voice that makes the land lovely
again and again in sounds
among the dark clouds
the thunder's voice
the voice above
The voice that makes the land lovely

 

The voice that makes the land lovely
the voice below
the voice of the grasshopper
among the little plants
again and again it sounds
the voice that makes the land lovely

[NAVAJO]

Below the East, the Earth, its face toward the East.

Below the West, the Sky, it is beautiful, its face toward the West.

Below the East, the Dawn, its face toward the East.

Below the West, the afterglow of sundown, its face toward the West, is beautiful.

Below the East, White Corn, its face toward the East, is beautiful.

Below the South, Blue Corn, its face toward the South, is beautiful.

Below the West, Yellow Corn, its face toward the West, is beautiful.

Below the North, Varicolored Corn, its face toward the North, is beautiful.

Below the East, Sahanahray, its face toward the East, is beautiful.

Below the West, Bekayhozhon,
⁶
its face toward the West, is beautiful.

Below the East, Corn Pollen, its face toward the East, is beautiful.

Below the West, the Corn Beetle, its face toward the West, is beautiful.