- Shopping Bag ( 0 items )
Other sellers (Hardcover)
-
All (5) from $19.99
-
Used (5) from $0.00
Ships from: Tucson, AZ
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Ships from: Tulsa, OK
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Ships from: Worthington, OH
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
The annual seasons and rhythms of the desert are a dance of clouds, wind, rain, and flood—water in it roles from bringer of food to destroyer of life. The critical importance of weather and climate to native desert peoples is reflected with grace and power in this personal collection of poems, the first written creative work by an individual in O'odham and a landmark in Native American literature. Poet Ofelia Zepeda centers these poems on her own experiences growing up in a Tohono O'odham family, where desert climate profoundly influenced daily life, and on her perceptions as a contemporary Tohono O'odham woman. One section of poems deals with contemporary life, personal history, and the meeting of old and new ways. Another section deals with winter and human responses to light and air. The final group of poems focuses on the nature of women, the ocean, and the way the past relationship of the O'odham with the ocean may still inform present day experience. These fine poems will give the outside reader a rich insight into the daily life of the Tohono O'odham people.
| Introduction: Things That Help Me Begin to Remember | 1 | |
| Pulling Down the Clouds | 9 | |
| O'odham Dances | 11 | |
| Ju:ki Ne'i | 14 | |
| Na:nko Ma:s Cewagi/Cloud Song | 15 | |
| Wind | 16 | |
| Black Clouds | 20 | |
| The Floods of 1993 and Others | 21 | |
| Cewagi | 26 | |
| The Man Who Drowned in the Irrigation Ditch | 29 | |
| Her Hair Is Her Dress | 34 | |
| Hair Stolen | 36 | |
| Don't Be Like the Enemy | 37 | |
| Long Hair | 38 | |
| Hairpins | 39 | |
| Bury Me with a Band | 40 | |
| Suitcase of Saints | 41 | |
| Kots | 44 | |
| Hot Tortillas | 46 | |
| Waila Music | 48 | |
| Deer Dance Exhibition | 50 | |
| Uncle Stories | 52 | |
| One-Sided Conversation | 53 | |
| Musical Retrospective | 54 | |
| People on Wayward Journeys (Russian Thistle, Russian Tumbleweed) | 57 | |
| Ba:ban Ganhu Ge Ci:pia | 59 | |
| Dog Dreams | 61 | |
| Morning Air | 65 | |
| The South Corner | 66 | |
| Kitchen Sink | 68 | |
| Lard for Moisturizer | 69 | |
| Moon Games | 73 | |
| Like a Picture Postcard | 75 | |
| Under the Sea | 79 | |
| Ka:cim Su:dagi | 81 | |
| Ocean Power | 83 | |
| Afterword: On the Tohono O'odham | 85 |
Overview
The annual seasons and rhythms of the desert are a dance of clouds, wind, rain, and flood—water in it roles from bringer of food to destroyer of life. The critical importance of weather and climate to native desert peoples is reflected with grace and power in this personal collection of poems, the first written creative work by an individual in O'odham and a landmark in Native American literature. Poet Ofelia Zepeda centers these poems on her own experiences growing up in a Tohono O'odham family, where desert ...