Dance: Indigenous Nations Poets Write from the Library of Congress

Editors: Denise Low & Edgar Silex

Publisher: Mammoth Publications

In April of 2022, Indigenous Nations Poets hosted 17 Indigenous poets as fellows for a gathering with distinguished Indigenous faculty, In-Na-Po leaders, and United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo at the Library of Congress (LOC). The week’s events included workshops, craft talks, an introduction to the collections of the LOC and the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), and readings by faculty and fellows. Throughout the retreat, we embraced Indigenous values and aesthetics and encouraged participants to use Indigenous languages” (In-Na-Po website).

This publication is a sharing of creative responses to the 2022 LOC retreat. The co-editors E.G. Silex and Denise Low were faculty members for the retreat. They were honored to collect writings by retreat participants that were inspired by the week’s activities. These poems have a range of voices. Their clarity and power weave through the pages, as well as common themes: dance, personal and community survivance, and traditions that sustain nations and individuals through adversities. The poems also show the spirituality that is as essential to Native peoples as food.