Layli Long Soldier

Excellent investigation of language. I admit I didn't initially connect much with 1-2 but section 3 (Whereas) is well worth reading, for everyone. For the thoughtfulness on identity and form, this requires careful reading, but I recommend anyone trying it power through what doesn't land and keep reading for what does.

I cannot claim to KNOW poetry, but there is writing in Whereas by Layli Long Soldier that speaks to me.



- "still I say baby soft like a poet two even syllables as.in. bo.dy. or I.was." Left, Two



- “And let the body swing.

From the platform.

Out

to the grasses.” 38





I do not have the language to elaborate why, but I recommend this collection of poetry.

Fantastic; hard, soft, painful, real, inspiring, heartbreaking.

Whereas should be required reading. If I had kids I would encourage them to read this text that cuts across genres and uses form in a way that is bold without being too much. There's so much in the political and historical action of these poems intertwined with phenomenon of experience from an indigenous perspective in the United States, a country that's system are deeply structured by racism and oppression.