Duane Niatum

cantfindit

Duane Niatum (1938-present) is a Native American poet of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe. He served in the US Navy before receiving his BA from the University of Washington, MA from Johns Hopkins University, and PhD from the University of Michigan. Niatum has taught high school American and European Literature, was the editor for the Harper & Row's Native American Author series, and is considered a member of the second wave of the Native American Renaissance. Source

Mixed Media

The stars grow lemon

in the field, spread

like tea leaves in

a cup; red-wing

blackbirds fold themselves

into the fence,

corn dreamers.

 

The sky undulating

with clouds returns

gold-throated arpeggios

to the one walking

at sunrise, sunfall.

 

Light as the air

I sit on my

cottage steps;

a tom cat come

home to die for

the day.

Published:

1991

Length:

Shorty

Literary Movements:

Native American Renaissance

Anthology Years:

2020

Themes:

Intersectionality & Culture

Nature

Literary Devices:

Alliteration

the repetition of the same letter or sound at the beginning of words appearing in succession

Enjambment

a line break interrupting the middle of a phrase which continues on to the next line

Juxtaposition

the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect

Simile

a comparison between two unlike things using the words “like” or “as”