UC Irvine

The following is a collection of poems that circle themes of family, historical trauma and indigeneity. Here, fragmentation finds many forms and takes new shape when piecing together. Brokenness enhances story and challenges common understandings of story. In these poems there is also a concern for reconsidering the functionality of using and working with the English language. These poems assert space to be playful, as I have found ways to work with the language of colonizers on my own terms. Poetry is a vehicle in which to use the English language in a way that echoes the complexity of my life, asking the reader to imagine new landscapes and relationships, pushing against something about human transformation and identity. These poems do not speak for anyone other than me. But in that, these poems do not exist without concern for solidarity amongst all Native people.