We are thrilled to share the Denver Art Museum's video of their artist-in-residence, Rose B. Simpson, who we were happy to feature in our current special issue, A Gathering of Native Voices (Winter 2020).
At seventeen, he didn't have permission
like his friends to go under the ice,
to dive down and see
what the river held secret in winter
So he sat on the bank instead, bundled
and waiting for the two divers
to come up from the jagged manhole
—from "Ice Diving," Volume 61, Issue 3 (Fall 2020)
Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
I sent a poem in to an anthology competition I found in the back of Seventeen Magazine. It rhymed – it was a little box of exact rhymes. I remember that one of the lines was “Peace will unite us through all the lands.” Real good stuff. Like everyone who submitted, my poem was accepted and published. I was giddy. My folks bought a copy of the...
I am this naked
mineral:
echo of underground:
I am glad
to have come so far
from so much earth:
I am last, barely
entrails, body; hands
—from "XXIII" by Pablo Neruda, Translated by Karen Hilberg, Volume 61, Issue 3 (Fall 2020)
Tell us about one of the first pieces you translated.
I studied poetry in college and was learning Spanish during the summers working in Mexico. As a way to work on both at the same time, I planned a poetry translation independent study with my poetry professor. She told me to pick out a Spanish language poet from the library and we’d choose a poem to start with. At the library, I pulled out Pablo Neruda’s Las Piedras del Cielo. When I flipped...
Watch our Virtual Gathering of Native American Voices from Dec. 10th with Theodore C. Van Alst, Jr., Elise Paschen, Toni Jensen, and Tacey M. Atsitty, moderated by Laura Furlan, the reading will hand over the mic to contemporary Indigenous voices, rather than cosplay Pilgrims, during the 400th anniversary of the landing at Plymouth Rock.
Tacey M. Atsitty, Diné, is Tsénahabiłnii (Sleep Rock People) and born for Ta’neeszahnii (Tangle People). Her maternal grandfather is Tábąąhí (Water Edge People) and her paternal grandfather is Hashk’áánhadzóhí (Yucca Fruit Strung-Out-In-A-Line People) from Cove, AZ. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming...
I wanted to build a boat and launch for Amsterdam.
Foxtrot on the upper deck in a moon-spangled frock.
I wanted to hold the sky like a bowl, smudge the clouds.
Bring a sentence to its knees. I moved to a spit of land on the coast.
Lit a hurricane lamp in the window. Lined my eyes with kohl.
Wore Goodwill dresses with sun-faded sleeves and glass buttons
My journal entries resembled waves.
—from "When he said Sell a book, I heard Sail," Volume 61, Issue 3 (Fall 2020)
Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
In 8th grade I wrote a poem for St. Patrick's Day, believing that poetry required an occasion. All I remember of it is a leprechaun and one line: Watch out! (Like our current...
