Native American Poetry and Culture
The US poet laureate Joy Harjo writes, “The literature of the aboriginal people of North America defines America. It is not exotic. The concerns are particular, yet often universal.” The poets and poems gathered here showcase both the universal and the particular approaches Native American authors have taken to writing about diverse, indigenous cultures.
Poetry Foundation editors have curated this collection of Native American poets, both established and widely read ones along with voices of a new generation, from some of the many US tribes. Their poems bear historical witness, demonstrate the strength of the Native American spirit, argue crucial political and social issues, while illuminating a vibrant cultural heritage. This collection is intended to be inclusive, in order to introduce new readers to a broad range of poets. Please contact us if you wish to make suggestions for additions to this sampler, or if you are listed here and wish to be removed.
The editors would like to thank Allison Adelle Hedge Coke for her help in compiling our selection and for sending us the Native American poetry bibliographies (1993-2015) that she helped to compile with the AWP Indigenous/Aboriginal American Caucus administration. We also wish to thank those readers who write in to help us improve this feature. (Last updated March 2021)
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Spokane/Coeur d’Alene -
Mescalero, Chiricahua Apache, Diné (Navajo) -
Diné (Navajo) -
Navajo -
Diné (Navajo) -
Diné (Navajo) -
Anishinaabe (White Earth Chippewa Tribe) -
Mohawk -
Minneconjou Lakota (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe) -
Mescalero and Lipan Apache -
Abenaki -
Chemehuevi and Anishinaabe -
Shawnee/Cayuga -
Eastern Band of Cherokee -
Chumash -
Menominee -
Shawnee (Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma) -
Tlingit -
Mojave -
Ojibwe -
Muskogee, Cherokee, Seminole -
Yaqui -
Ojibwe (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa) -
Ojibwe (Turtle Mountain Chippewa) -
Muscogee Creek -
Powhatan-Renápe, Delaware-Lenápe -
Cherokee -
Onondaga Nation (Onondaga Nation) -
Cherokee -
Louisiana Creole -
Secwepemc First Nation -
Koyoonk’auwi (Concow) -
Inupiaq -
Muskogee Creek -
White Earth Chippewa -
Wisconsin Oneida -
Yapaituka Comanche and Southern Arapaho -
Chickasaw -
Tlingit -
Choctaw -
Navajo -
Mohawk -
Onondaga Nation -
Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe) and Han-Naxi Métis -
Poarch Creek -
Oglala Lakota -
Lovelock Paiute -
Lenape (Delaware) and Cherokee -
Creek (Muscogee) -
Cherokee -
Standing Rock Sioux and Hunkpapa Lakota -
Ohlone-Costanoan Esselen -
Kiowa -
Choctaw/Chickasaw -
Tewa, Santa Clara Pueblo -
Cherokee -
S’Klallam -
Anishinaabe -
Yuki -
Inupiaq-Inuit -
Acoma Pueblo -
Acoma Pueblo -
Numunuu (Comanche) -
Osage -
Chamoru -
Zuni and Isleta Pueblo -
Kumeyaay -
Ft. Peck Sioux -
White Earth Anishinaabe -
Osage -
Inupiaq -
Hopi and Miwok -
Cherokee -
Abenaki -
Suquamish -
Laguna Pueblo -
Diné -
Sioux and Assiniboine -
Akwesasne Mohawk -
Lipan Apache and Jumano Apache -
Diné (Navajo) -
Diné (Navajo) -
Onondaga/Mi’Kmaq -
Santee Dakota -
Ojibwe (Turtle Mountain Chippewa) -
Anishinaabe and Chippewa -
Dakota -
Nimíipuu (Nez Perce) -
Dakota and Cherokee (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, Cherokee Nation Oklahoma) -
Diné (Navajo) -
Duckwater Shoshone -
Monacan Indian Nation -
Confederate Tribes of Warm Springs -
Meskwaki -
Tohone O’odham (formerly Papago) Nation
Recent explorations of Native American experience in prose and conversation.
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Joseph M. Pierce
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Elizabeth Harball
The Institute of American Indian Arts, now in its 50th year, encourages its students to upend conventional expectations of Native American culture
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Elizabeth Raby
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From Poetry Lectures
A Poetry Lectures podcast featuring Sherwin Bitsui, Allison Adele Hedge Coke, and Linda Hogan
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Tony Rehagen
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Siobhan Phillips
Reading the ugly history of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, where the poet taught
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Heid E. Erdrich
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Siobhan Phillips