Irony by Layli Long Soldier

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend December 7, 2016   Irony   Layli Long Soldier

I wake to red sand I sleep here coral brick hooghaan I walk thin rabbit brush trails side- step early autumn tarantulas  pick desert white flowers on full days I inhale fe- male rain I stop wheels slow sheep bounce drop sheep shit across  highways potholed me I grass nothing here I meta- grass I sleep- walk grasses open eyes to blue corn sky to cook up stews chunks half-chewed thru I am this salivating mouth without hands with- out arms  bent down shameless face to plate to some origin(al) hunger aware that I'm alone and I alone am the one -> pushing the head to eat            Copyright © 2016 Layli Long Soldier. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   "'Irony' is one of six poems I've written on grasses in the last few years. My dad's family is from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and my mom's family is from northern Idaho, yet I grew up in the Southwest. When I travel north, it's the grasses that speak warmly in welcome and they're what I miss most when I leave. I relish the fragrance—fresh and redolent, rich and musky at once...and the sight of breezes across the surface, a graceful oceanic sway. When I write, I write to whom or what I love the most. But it's in absence, most especially, I find poems." —Layli Long Soldier   Layli Long Soldier is the author of WHEREAS, forthcoming from Graywolf Press. She teaches as a member of the poetry faculty at the Institute of American Indian Arts and resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Poetry by Long Soldier   WHEREAS (Graywolf Press, 2017)  "SONNET (silenced)" by Olena Kalytiak Davis "Anchorage" by Joy Harjo "Washita Battlefield National Historic Site" by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038

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