Indigenous Language Poetry Night
Woody Guthrie Center
Tulsa
Aug. 31, 2024
The story in Tulsa this Labor Day weekend was all about the Big Dam Party, and amid the celebration (and lingering questions) about the state of Water in the River, it stands to reason that other happenings in town may have been overlooked. Indigenous Language Poetry Night with Words of the People had additional wrinkles with last-minute lineup changes and technological hiccups. Nevertheless, a few enthusiastic poets and poetry fans ventured out into a rainstorm Saturday night to visit a different gathering place, the Woody Guthrie Center, for an evening that was a call to language reclamation in varying forms and presentations.
This poetry night, originally scheduled for April but postponed due to tornadic weather, was one installment in a series of events that Words of the People, in partnership with the Institute of American Indian Arts and the Tulsa Artist Fellowship, presents to inspire and nurture those who write in their Indigenous languages, a “language back” counterpart to the Land Back movement. Writer Chelsea T. Hicks directs Words of the People, a culmination of her years of learning and teaching Osage, with a goal of normalizing creative work in Indigenous languages.
With Hicks unable to attend due to illness, poet Claire Campo (Mohawk) moderated the evening capably, with warmth toward fellow poets and listeners that shows why they are a trusted community literary organizer. Campo noted in their introduction the ways that language itself comes from our surroundings, a theme that would recur throughout the evening’s readings, including in their poems “Origin Story” and “Reconnecting.”
Sarah Joy Milner (Odawa poet, Michigan native and 2024 Indigenous Nations Poets Fellow) joined the gathering via Zoom. Milner’s “Winter Solstice,” a reflection on stories told on the year’s longest night, was a highlight of the evening. Evoking two roads ahead, confident in a decision to take neither and turn back, the piece was a provocative rejoinder to Frost’s “The Road Less Traveled,” a reminder that something original, essential — language — will never be lost, even if a reclamation of first language comes later in life.
Carmen Wiley and Talee Redcorn were also unable to be present, so there was ample time for open mic participants before Cherokee and Muscogee artist Elisa Harkins concluded the evening. Two-spirit poet and activist Alex deRoin shared several poems in keeping with the theme of nature’s role in the assertion of tribal sovereignty. I especially enjoyed their “Human Libraries,” which honors “languages made by the land.” DeRoin, with fellow Osage poet Aimee Inglis, has a “Water Zine” in the works, a project which invites Osages to reflect on their spiritual relationships and responsibilities to water on their land.
I’ve had the opportunity to attend Harkins’ musical performances elsewhere in town, but this occurrence in this congregation, sharing a focus on language reclamation, was especially powerful. Her joining of translation, Indigenous language preservation and musicology, alongside her physical expression of these themes through movement, is a fitting expression of the same desire for self-revelation that poetry continually fulfills, shaking loose new insights and discoveries that have been silenced. I so enjoy Harkins’ “Deadly.” Who can resist a girl who makes frybread and swears in her language?
Upon further reflection, this evening was timed completely appropriately. In our relationship to this river we live alongside, as we mark its transformation for new eras and purposes, we would also do well to recall its origins, forever entwined with our own.
