September 08, 2023
For a Tattered Planet:
Poems from the 2023 Mentoring Retreat in Door County Wisconsin
By Indigenous Nations Poets
Our annual retreat this year hosted sixteen Indigenous Nations Poets Fellows from twelve different Tribal Nations along with distinguished faculty in Door County, Wisconsin. We gathered to practice Indigenous Eco-Poetry and understand its ethics in this time of climate crisis. Fellows were encouraged to consider history of place, critique colonial views of nature, and explore the infinite possibilities of what it might mean “to dwell with the Earth.” Through spending time together on the land, inter-art activities with printmaking and music, and poetry workshops, we revitalized our approach to craft and writing in community.
Fellows and faculty offered poetry to a collaborative film with the Overpass Light Brigade, “Poems for a Tattered Planet,” as well as reading their own poems. In contemplating their role as “songmakers,” they asserted that “when we river, we undam memories, dances, songs.” They offered hope as “coyote formulates a plan below the altered web,” and as well as poems, “may I offer my needle, my thread, my hands.” Poets reflected on the generative nature of our times where we “end lives, start new ones.” How we build relationships now with “you standing there, residual skin, the fallout.” They ask, “As the world burns will the sap still run?”
View the Entire Playlist Here:
Take a moment to listen to the voices of these emerging Indigenous poets in the playlist of their videos here.
Throughout the 2023 Mentoring Retreat, IN-NA-Poets grappled with what it means to write Indigenous poetry in the midst of climate catastrophe and the wake of a global pandemic. There, we asked questions about how to care for each other and our planet. We look to poetry to help us navigate these questions. In these videos, you can see the urgency and responsibility that shapes each poet’s work.
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Your support makes events like this possible. Thank you! / 𐓵𐓘𐓰𐓧𐓣 / Miigwech / Chin'an
What Our Fellows Have to Say About the Retreat:
Fellow Benjamin V. Burgess shared about his experience at the retreat this year, “Listening to the other fellows and faculty read. I got to see the professionals at work. I'm relatively new to poetry. I've always written poems, but haven't honed my craft, and it was inspiring to be among the poets that have achieved mastery. I once worked on a house with a master carpenter. He had been in the profession for over 60 years. I was just helping out my brother, and I watched him in awe of what he was able to do with what looked effortless, but what I was really witnessing was 60 years of muscle memory, and expertise at work. That's what it was like listening and being among the poets at the retreat. They have the expertise that I can strive towards in my own work.”
Among the distinguished faculty for the week-long retreat were: Heid E. Erdrich (Anishinaabe), recent winner of the Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry for her book Little Big Bully; Craig Santos Perez (Chamoru) whose many accolades include the American Book Award and the Pen Center USA/Poetry Society of America Literary Prize; and Sherwin Bitsui (Diné) whose awards include an American Book Award and a PEN Open Book Award. Visiting faculty includes Elise Paschen (Osage) who is the co-founder of Poetry in Motion and past winner of the Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize.
The 2023 Fellows included writers from across the U.S., including from Alaska and Hawaii, who were selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants. The poets come from diverse Indigenous and Native Nations and bring an array of unique styles and interests. The 2023 cohort includes seven returning and nine new fellows, with returning fellows being given an opportunity to participate in panels. Selected fellows and their Indigenous and Native Nations are: Benjamin Burgess (Yankton Sioux), Emerald GoingSnake (Giduwa and Mvskoke), Aimee Inglis (Osage), Kalehua Kim (Hawaiian), Erin Marie Lynch (Standing Rock Sioux), Melanie Merle (Chickasaw), Tyler Mitchell (Diné), m.s. RedCherries (Northern Cheyenne), Kateri Menominee (Bay Mills Chippewa), Halee Kirkwood (Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe), Kenzie Allen (Oneida), Amber McCrary (Diné), Mary Leauna Christensen (Eastern Band Cherokee), Max Early (Laguna Pueblo), Casandra Lopez (Tongva/Luiseño and Chicana), and Annie Wenstrup (Dena’ina).
Fellow Kalehua Kim shared, “The IN-NA-PO retreat provided time and space to focus on my needs not only as a writer, but as a Native person whose artistry remains grounded in spirit and tradition. Working with people who resonate with the joyous tenor of connecting to ancestral knowledge while grappling with the bindings of seeking recognition in a capitalist driven industry helped me feel less alone – while providing a safe place of inquiry. In this space I felt free to express connection to lineage and spirit, to practice and fracture. In this setting, I felt that I would be heard when I spoke freely. I’ve worked in community with other writers, feeling somewhat supported. But my IN-NA-PO colleagues are a vibrant group of people whose unique life experiences offer support as well as invaluable shared perspectives. As I map the full picture of my writing life, the interactions and knowledge I gained at In-Na-Po help me chart a bright future that incorporates the strengths of my past. I know that I am not alone. I am incredibly grateful for the time spent with these generous and kind poets.”
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