Sovereign Erotics

by Driskill, Qwo-li; Justice, Daniel Heath; Miranda, Deborah; Tatonetti, Lisa

• ISBN13: 9780816502424
• ISBN10: 0816502420
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-10-01
• Publisher: Univ of Arizona Pr

Summary

Two-Spirit people, identified by many different tribally specific names and standings within their communities, have been living, loving, and creating art since time immemorial. It wasn't until the 1970s, however, that contemporary queer Native literature gained any public notice. Even now, only a handful of books address it specifically, most notably the 1988 collection Living the Spirt: A Gay American Indian Anthology. Since that book's publication twenty-three years ago, there has not been another collection published that focuses explicitly on the writing and art of Indigenous Two-Spirit and Queer people. This landmark collection strives to reflect the complexity of identities within Native Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Two-Spirit (GLBTQ2) communities. Gathering together the work of established writers and talented new voices, this anthology spans genres (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and essay) and themes (memory, history, sexuality, indigeneity, friendship, family, love, and loss) and represents a watershed moment in Native American and Indigenous literatures, Queer studies, and the intersections between the two. Collaboratively, the pieces in Sovereign Erotics demonstrate not only the radical diversity among the voices of today's Indigenous GLBTQ2 writers but also the beauty, strength, and resilience of Indigenous GLBTQ2 people in the twenty-first century.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Writing in the Present	p. 1
Dreams/Ancestors
Some Like Indians Endure	p. 21
Warrior	p. 25
Vessel	p. 27
Kid Icarus	p. 28
The King of the Tie-snakes	p. 30
Santa Claus, Indiana	p. 48
Aunt Lucy	p. 50
Living Memory	p. 51
Gathering of Nations	p. 53
Indian Mascot, 1959	p. 55
real Indians	p. 57
Coyote Takes a Trip	p. 59
Birth Song for Muin, in Red	p. 66
Chantway for F.C.	p. 71
Love/Medicine
My First Book	p. 77
Ghost Dance	p. 78
Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean	p. 81
Something Wants To Be Said	p. 83
A meditation partially composed in a D.C. coffeehouse because there isn't anything better to do in this city of dead white fathers...	p. 84
Love Poem, After Arizona	p. 86
He's watched	p. 89
Being Two Spirit	p. 93
Lament Under the Moon	p. 95
Thames	p. 96
Deep Winter	p. 98
Long/Walks
We Could Not Forget	p. 101
Our Wars	p. 103
The Act of Memory in Laguna California	p. 104
Blue Covers	p. 106
(Auto)biography of Mad	p. 107
The Witch's House	p. 110
Ballad of the Raft	p. 115
Contacts	p. 117
authentically ethnic	p. 124
Sweet Grass	p. 126
The Perfect Picture	p. 127
The Door of the Devil	p. 131
Jerry, Sheree, and the Eel	p. 141
Gray's Sea Change	p. 143
Regent's Canal	p. 145
Absorbing Light	p. 148
A Drag Queen Named Pipi	p. 149
Ander's Awakening	p. 150
my mom names us	p. 178
Kid	p. 180
Pedagogy	p. 182
Plaza Bocanegra	p. 185
The Ends of a Picnic	p. 189
Wild/Flowers
Where I Want Them	p. 193
Remember: She Bought Those Panties for You	p. 194
Naughty Probably	p. 196
Rebirth	p. 198
Sargent: Drawing of Nicola D'Inverno	p. 200
St. James Lake	p. 202
Sonnet for Izzy	p. 204
Visiting San Francisco	p. 205
Man Country	p. 206
How to Make a Fish Sweat	p. 207
forgiveness on a november sunday	p. 208
Calumet Cemetery	p. 209
Clementines	p. 211
Source Credits	p. 213
About the Contributors	p. 215
Index	p. 225
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