Here is a list of works of poetry consisting of children’s , young adult and adult Native American poetry. Descriptions are from the NYPL catalogue. Please check these titles and others at your local library.
Children
Thirteen moons on Turtle’s back: a Native American year of moons by Joseph Bruchac
Celebrates the seasons of the year through poems from the legends of such Native American tribes as the Cherokee, Cree, and Sioux.
Navajo: Visions and Voices Across the Mesa by Shonto Begay
A Navajo artist and writer combines his paintings and poetry to provide insight into the lives of his people, exploring creation stories, childhood memories, and tribal rituals.
Walking on earth and touching the sky : poetry and prose by Lakota youth at Red Cloud Indian School
Collects poetry written by Lakota students at Red Cloud Indian School in South Dakota on such topics as the history of oral tradition, the struggles of everyday life, and their personal connections to the natural world.
Spirit Walker : poems by Nancy Wood
The author’s poems reflect the deep spirituality and values of the Taos Indians and their interconnectedness to the earth.
Dancing teepees : poems of American Indian youth
An illustrated collection of poems from the oral tradition of Native Americans.
Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Verses from Longfellow’s epic poem depict the boyhood of Hiawatha.
When The Moon is Full by Penny Pollock
Portrays the twelve full moons of the year, calling a traditional native American name to each month and following the monthly path in all its wonder. Includes a question-and-answer section providing moongazers with scientific information about the moon.
When The Rain Sings poems by young Native Americans
A collection of poems written by young Native Americans, inspired by or matched with photographs of artifacts and people from the National Museum of the American Indian.
Touching the distance : Native American riddle-poems by Swann Brian
A collection of brief poems, most only a single line, adapted from the riddles of various Native American tribes. The illustrations reveal the answers to the riddles.
Teen
Earth always endures: Native American poems by Edward S. Curtis
Sixty poems–chants, prayers, and songs– from Native American tribes across the continent, accompanied by forty photographs by Edward S. Curtis.
Night is gone, day is still coming: stories and poems by American Indian teenagers and young adults
Collects poetry, prose, and memoirs from fifty-seven young American Indians expressing their thoughts and views on such topics as life, love, heritage, family, and identity.
The serpent’s tongue: prose, poetry, and art of the New Mexico Pueblos by edited by Nancy Wood.
A colorful anthology captures the Pueblo culture through an array of stories, poems, and paintings depicting the Pueblo way of life as well as their celebrations, beliefs, symbols, and more.
Dreaming in Indian: contemporary Native American voices edited by Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale
In a graphics-intensive, magazine-style format, 50 Native/Indian contributors from Canada and the United States present visual art (photography, drawings, paintings), poems, interviews and remembrances to show what it means to be Native/Indian today. Topics range from stereotypes and discrimination to discussions of the contributors’ careers in activism, modeling, music, visual arts and more.
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New poets of Native nations by edited by Heid E. Erdrich
“New Poets of Native Nations gathers poets of diverse ages, styles, languages, and tribal affiliations to present the extraordinary range and power of new Native poetry. Heid E. Erdrich has selected twenty-one poets whose first books were published after the year 2000 to highlight the exciting works coming up after Joy Harjo and Sherman Alexie. Collected here are poems of great breadth–long narratives, political outcries, experimental works, and traditional lyrics–and the result is an essential anthology of some of the best poets writing now.”–Back cover.
An American sunrise : poems by Harjo, Joy Harjo places swatches of history between her entrancing lyrics like specimens of poisonous plants in a naturalist’s log, beginning with President Andrew Jackson’s forced removal of Native Americans, including Harjo’s ancestors; she then follows the subsequent Trail of Tears back to the White House where the current occupant has hung a portrait of Jackson in the Oval Office.–booklist
How to dress a fish by Chabitnoy, Abigail.In How to Dress a Fish, poet Abigail Chabitnoy, of Germanic and Aleut descent, addresses the lives disrupted by US Indian boarding school policy. She pays particular attention to the life story of her great grandfather, Michael, who was taken from the Baptist Orphanage, Wood Island, Alaska, and sent to Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania.
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