Sometimes people can surprise you. The depths of their thoughts of feelings may
not have an outlet through which to be expressed, but if you give them an
outlet, there is no telling what you might learn. At the Red Cloud Indian School, poet and
teacher Timothy P. McLaughlin took the writings of his young Lakota students
and collecting them into Walking on Earth and Touching the Sky: Poetry and
Prose by Lakota Youth at the Red Cloud Indian School.
Collecting the works of middle school aged students from the
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, Walking on Earth and Touching
the Sky reveals the thoughts and emotions of a variety of students through
their writings. Sometimes prose
paragraphs and sometimes various forms of poetry, these works are very
powerful. They reveal feelings about
death, racism and poverty, as well as identity, religion and living with and in
the Lakota heritage.
This collection opens with a section features works about the
natural world. “Ocean” by Duncan Deon
says, “The ocean is the flow of the world/ as we are the flow of nature/ and
its elements.” Similar poems follow
about the sun and stars. Different
students employ different poetic and literary devices. Dustin Star Comes Out writes a haiku about
nature (“It blooms without fear.”) and Clementine Bourdeaux employs metaphor:
“When you laugh, it’s
an echo of your past.
The moon is a round
diamond.
The stars are pieces
of memory.
The ocean is a
blanket of dreams that last forever.
A rainbow is a bridge
to your future.”
Some of the poems and prose created by the students reveal
dark thoughts from a hard and troubling life.
In a poem entitled “Misery,” Andrew Herman writes, “Indian misery is
when somebody takes your land./ Indian misery is when somebody kills your
friends.” While sometimes heartbreaking
to read, these writings must have been essential to these students in order to
express themselves. Sometimes thoughts
can never be heard until they are written down.
This book is arranged into different segments with an
overall theme, such as “Natural World,” “Native Thoughts,” and “Language.” Each segment opens with a small introduction
by McLaughlin and a painting by S.D. Nelson.
This introduction puts the reader into the correct mindset to then
experience the students’ writings.
McLaughlin also wrote a general introduction to the whole collection
that gives the reader an overview of the history of the Red Cloud Indian School
and some context for understanding the students’ lives. McLaughlin also included an author’s note in
which he wrote about his personal experiences with the school and its students.
There is a lot to enjoy, experience and digest in this
collection, and there is much that can be learned and built upon. One poem I thought would make for a good
patron exercise is called “Seven Ways of Looking at Eagles” by Tonia Scabby
Face.
“One way is how he
soars high above the clouds.
The second way is
when the eagle sits on a tree branch
looking over the
countryside.
The third way is when
he grabs his prey on the prairie.
The fourth way is
when his protective eyes are keeping you safe at all times.
The fifth way is when
the eagle lets us borrow his feathers.
The sixth way is when
he talks to the rest of the sacred animals
so they can also keep
you protected.
The seventh way is
how the eagle sits waiting for your own flight to the sky.”
This poem chose to write about something from the natural
world that had a specific significance to her.
The idea behind this poem, however, could be adapted into almost
anything. Students and patrons could be
invited to write a poem about seven ways to look at something or someone
important to them, like a family member or a pet, or even something mundane,
like a fork. The results could be quite
interesting.
McLaughlin, Timothy P., ed. Walking on Earth and Touching
the Sky: Poetry and Prose by Lakota Youth at Red Cloud Indian School. Paintings by S.D. Nelson. Foreward by Joseph M. Marshall III. New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers,
2012. ISBN: 9781419701795
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