Greyhounding This America

by Maurice Kenny, William M. Kunstler

"Greyhounding This America is a truly remarkable work. The theme which unites its dozen or so poems is that most of them were written or conceived while Kenny was taking advantage of the bus company's America Pass policy--a one price for all one could ride in one month--and, as he puts it, "zigg[ing] and zagg[ing] all over this country, into Montreal and Quebec and down through New England on the same ticket." The result is a collection of highly literate free verse." --William M. Kunstler The poetry and dialogue published in this book is from a recorded conversation between Native American Maurice Kenny and Heidelberg Graphic's publisher, Larry Jackson, in the 1980s, about the story behind "Greathounding America." Kenny was a well-known Mohawk poet who made several bus trips across the United States, reading his poetry to appreciative audiences along the way. Illustrated by San Francisco poet Wendy Rose. Only seven copies left from a small press run. – Heidelberg Graphics, publisher

Genres: Poetry

70 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 1989

About the author

Maurice Kenny, Mohawk, was born in Watertown, NY. His work has been published in almost 100 journals, including special issues, especially on Native American writing.

In 2000, Maurice received the Elder Recognition Award from the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers. In 1996 On Second Thought was a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award in fiction.

Maurice's book of poems, Blackrobe : Isaac Jogues, B. March 11, 1607, D. October 18, 1646, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, as was Between Two Rivers. He is the recipient of a National Public Radio Award for Broadcasting. His book The Mama Poems received the American Book Award in 1984. The Bloomsbury Review cited Wounds Beneath the Flesh as the best anthology of 1983.