Without Reservation

by Smelcer, John E.

• ISBN13: 9781931112307
• ISBN10: 1931112304
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-05-01
• Publisher: Truman State Univ Pr

Summary

Alaskan native John E. Smelcer's poems are "clear, rueful, courageous, sardonic, hard-lived, and backed up with a big heart and life-knowledge," as poet Gary Snyder says. Smelcer, the only surviving speaker, reader, and writer of his native language, Ahtna, includes several poems in his native language. W. P. Kinsella says "This is poetry as it should be, without a wasted word, with unparalleled attention to sound and rhythm."

Author Biography

Alaskan Native John E. Smelcer is the only surviving speaker, reader, and writer of his native language, Ahtna. He is the author of three other poetry books, Riversongs, Songs from an Outcast, and Changing Seasons, and two poetry chapbooks

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Returning the Gift	1	(1)
Indian Scalper	2	(1)
An Indian Poet Apologizes for His Color	3	(1)
After a Sermon at the Church of Infinite Confusion	4	(1)
An American Indian Dreams the American Dream	5	(1)
An Indian Boy Dreams of Being Billy Mills	6	(1)
The Gossips	7	(1)
The Last Fancy Dancer	8	(1)
It's All in the Blood	9	(1)
Bonfires	10	(1)
The Book of Genesis, Revised for American Indian History	11	(3)
The Incomplete & Unauthorized Definition of American Indian Writers	14	(4)
High Anxiety	18	(1)
How to Conquer the New World	19	(1)
An Indian Boy Dreams of Michael Jordan	20	(1)
Hymn Singer	21	(1)
Silas Redcorn Falls in Love	22	(1)
Indian Giver	23	(1)
Red America	24	(1)
In the House of Worship	25	(1)
Electric Dreams	26	(1)
Poverty	27	(1)
This is Just to Say	28	(1)
Kinship	29	(1)
My Conversation with a Fox (English)	30	(1)
My Conversation with a Fox (Ahtna Athabaskan)	31	(1)
Hunter's Luck (English)	32	(1)
Hunter's Luck (Ahtna Athabaskan)	33	(1)
So Begins the Lasting Silence	34	(1)
Lost and Found	35	(1)
Mistaken Identity	36	(1)
The Price of Leaving Indian Country	37	(1)
Riversong	38	(1)
So It Goes	39	(1)
Supper Prayer for the Soon-to-be-Eradicated	40	(1)
If Textbooks Told the History of America the Way They Tell American Indian History	41	(1)
One Day on the Weegotskrood Indian Reservation	42	(1)
Tea With a Bull Moose	43	(1)
This Side of Eternity	44	(1)
Prayer Singer	45	(1)
Beading Poetry	46	(1)
The Scent of Poverty	47	(1)
Affirmative Action	48	(1)
Indian Summer	49	(1)
My Indian Grandmother Speaks to Animals	50	(1)
Dreamcatcher	51	(1)
Dandelions in Full Bloom	52	(1)
Exodus	53	(2)
Sunday Drive	55	(1)
The Indian Poet at a Reading	56	(1)
Indian Time	57	(1)
Indian Social Security	58	(1)
How the West Was Won	59	(1)
Cowboys & Indians	60	(1)
The Rise of Christianity	61	(1)
Real Indian	62	(1)
Dzi'di'da	63	(1)
Dead Man's Curve	64	(1)
The Better Part of Me	65	(1)
A Winter Walk With Sorrow	66	(1)
Call of the Wild	67	(1)
Cillem Quellra	68	(1)
Elvis in Bear Country	69	(1)
In the House of Blue Light	70	(1)
Hunter's Lament	71	(1)
January, After a Cold Spell	72	(1)
Kaktovik Whale Hunters	73	(1)
On Leaving Alaska	74	(1)
Living Jack London	75	(1)
The Hunter	76	(1)
Song of a Yupik Seal Hunter	77	(1)
Spending the Night on the Klutina River	78	(1)
This Side of Midnight	79	(1)
Trail's End	80	(1)
Tracks	81	(1)
The White Silence	82	(1)
The Dance	83	(1)
Redemption	84	(1)
Rebel	85	(1)
Kinfolk	86	(1)
A Fisherman's Heaven	87	(1)
Reservation Blues	88	(1)
Solitary Man	89	(1)
Fathers & Sons	90	(1)
The Night of My Boyhood Rape	91	(1)
Spring on the Kenai Penninsula	92	(1)
Epiphany	93	(1)
Pilgrims Landing	94	(1)
Reunion	95	(1)
Tin Man	96	(1)
Thanksgiving	97	(1)
Gray Thunder	98	(1)
Talkeetna Fish Camp	99	(1)
The Snow Has No Voice	100	(1)
Climbing Down the Mountain	101	(1)
Grave Robbers	102	(1)
What Comes Around	103	(1)
Repossession	104	(1)
Winner Take Nothing	105	(1)
A Depressed Poet's New Year's Resolution	106	(1)
Writer's Block	107	(1)
About the Author	108