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Saanii Dahataal: The Women Are Singing : Poems and Stories (Sun Tracks, Vol 23)
In this cycle of poetry and stories, Navajo writer Luci Tapahonso shares memories of her home in Shiprock, New Mexico, and of the places and people there. Through these celebrations of birth, partings, and reunions, this gifted writer displays both her love of the Navajo world and her resonant use of language. Blending memoir and fiction in the storytelling style common to many Indian traditions, Tapahonso's writing shows that life and death are intertwined, and that the Navajo people live with the knowledge that identity is formed by knowing about the people to whom one belongs. The use of both English and Navajo in her work creates an interplay that may also give readers a new way of understanding their connectedness to their own inner lives and to other people.
Luci Tapahonso shows how the details of everyday life—whether the tragedy of losing a loved one or the joy of raising children, or simply drinking coffee with her uncle—bear evidence of cultural endurance and continuity. Through her work, readers may come to better appreciate the different perceptions that come from women's lives.
Luci Tapahonso shows how the details of everyday life—whether the tragedy of losing a loved one or the joy of raising children, or simply drinking coffee with her uncle—bear evidence of cultural endurance and continuity. Through her work, readers may come to better appreciate the different perceptions that come from women's lives.
95 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1993
5 people are currently reading
181 people want to read
About the author
Luci Tapahonso
19 books32 followersLuci Tapahonso, Navajo, is originally from Shiprock, NM, where she grew up in a family of 11 children. Navajo was her first language but she learned English at home before starting school at the Navajo Methodist Mission in Farmington, NM. She majored in English at the University of New Mexico, as an undergraduate and graduate student. She stayed on there as an Assistant Professor of English, Women's Studies and American Indian Studies for a few years. She has been an Associate Professor of English at the University of Kansas and is now Professor of English at the University of Arizona in Tucson where she teaches Poetry Writing and American Indian Literature.
Luci serves on the editorial board of wicazo sa review and was on the edtorial boards of Frontiers from 1991-1996 and of Blue Mesa Review from 1988-1992. She has been a juror for the Poetry Society of America, the Associated Writing Program Awards, and the Stan Steiner Writing Awards. She serves on the Advisory Boards of the Telluride Institute Writers Forum and has been a member of the New Mexico Arts Commission Literature Panel and the Kansas Arts Commission.
Luci writes for popular magazines as well as for academic and poetry journals, writing often for New Mexico Magazine. Among the journals where her work has been published are Diné Be Iina, Frontiers, Caliban, Sinister Wisdom, and the Beloit Poetry Journal.
In 1999, Luci was names Storyteller of the Year for her readings and performances by the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers.
Luci has received a 1998 Regional Book Award from the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Association, , a Southwestern Association for Indian Affairs Literature Fellowship, an Excellent Instructor Award at the University of New Mexico, a New Mexico Eminent Scholar Award from the New Mexico Commission of Higher Education, the Hall Center Creative Fellowship Award, a Southwest Book Award for Saánii Dahataal from the Border Regional Library Association, an Honorable Mention in the American Book Awards in 1983 for Seasonal Woman, and the 1995 Frost Place Poet-In-Residence.
She has also been named a Woman of Distinction by the American Girl Scout Council in 1996, Influential Professor by the Lady Jayhawks Faculty Recognition panel in 1994, an Outstanding Native American Woman by the City of Sacramento in 1993, the Grand Marshal of the Northern Navajo Nation Fair Parade in Shiprock in 1992, and one of the Top Women of the Navajo Nation by Maazo Magazine.
Luci serves her community at all levels, from her local community and university department to the national level. She has served on numerous English Department committees and reads her poetry in classes. She serves on University-wide committees, boards and task forces; she gives poetry readings in the local community and speaks to local groups. She has served on the board of Habitat for Humanity and the United Way Allocations Panel (both local). On the state level, Luci has served on the state Art Commissions, delivered Commencement Addresses at high schools on the Navajo Reservation and in Santa Fe and judged the Miss Navajo Nation and Miss Indian New Mexico Pageants. On the national level, Luci serves on the Board of Trustees for the National Museum of the American Indian, a branch of the Smithsonian Institution, and has served on the Board of Directors of the American Indian Law Resource Center, as a Review Consultant for the Cultural Diversity Development Division of American College Testing and reviews manuscripts for the University of Oklahoma Press, the University of Arizona Press, the University of Nebraska Press, and Cornell University Press. She is also a consultant to American Playhouse for the movie The Lady Chieftans. She was on the Planning Committee for the Returning the Gift Writers Festival from 1989-1992, worked in collaboration with David Noble, Rich Rollins and Krista Elrick on the Phoenix Art Commission Project Hohokamki: The Pueblo Grande Project from 1990-1992
Luci serves on the editorial board of wicazo sa review and was on the edtorial boards of Frontiers from 1991-1996 and of Blue Mesa Review from 1988-1992. She has been a juror for the Poetry Society of America, the Associated Writing Program Awards, and the Stan Steiner Writing Awards. She serves on the Advisory Boards of the Telluride Institute Writers Forum and has been a member of the New Mexico Arts Commission Literature Panel and the Kansas Arts Commission.
Luci writes for popular magazines as well as for academic and poetry journals, writing often for New Mexico Magazine. Among the journals where her work has been published are Diné Be Iina, Frontiers, Caliban, Sinister Wisdom, and the Beloit Poetry Journal.
In 1999, Luci was names Storyteller of the Year for her readings and performances by the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers.
Luci has received a 1998 Regional Book Award from the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Association, , a Southwestern Association for Indian Affairs Literature Fellowship, an Excellent Instructor Award at the University of New Mexico, a New Mexico Eminent Scholar Award from the New Mexico Commission of Higher Education, the Hall Center Creative Fellowship Award, a Southwest Book Award for Saánii Dahataal from the Border Regional Library Association, an Honorable Mention in the American Book Awards in 1983 for Seasonal Woman, and the 1995 Frost Place Poet-In-Residence.
She has also been named a Woman of Distinction by the American Girl Scout Council in 1996, Influential Professor by the Lady Jayhawks Faculty Recognition panel in 1994, an Outstanding Native American Woman by the City of Sacramento in 1993, the Grand Marshal of the Northern Navajo Nation Fair Parade in Shiprock in 1992, and one of the Top Women of the Navajo Nation by Maazo Magazine.
Luci serves her community at all levels, from her local community and university department to the national level. She has served on numerous English Department committees and reads her poetry in classes. She serves on University-wide committees, boards and task forces; she gives poetry readings in the local community and speaks to local groups. She has served on the board of Habitat for Humanity and the United Way Allocations Panel (both local). On the state level, Luci has served on the state Art Commissions, delivered Commencement Addresses at high schools on the Navajo Reservation and in Santa Fe and judged the Miss Navajo Nation and Miss Indian New Mexico Pageants. On the national level, Luci serves on the Board of Trustees for the National Museum of the American Indian, a branch of the Smithsonian Institution, and has served on the Board of Directors of the American Indian Law Resource Center, as a Review Consultant for the Cultural Diversity Development Division of American College Testing and reviews manuscripts for the University of Oklahoma Press, the University of Arizona Press, the University of Nebraska Press, and Cornell University Press. She is also a consultant to American Playhouse for the movie The Lady Chieftans. She was on the Planning Committee for the Returning the Gift Writers Festival from 1989-1992, worked in collaboration with David Noble, Rich Rollins and Krista Elrick on the Phoenix Art Commission Project Hohokamki: The Pueblo Grande Project from 1990-1992
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
January 3, 2009
I'm reading this book in sips because it's all I can handle. Luci Tapahonso is a Navajo poet who grew up in Shiprock, which is about 20 miles from where I'm from. Her poetry and storytelling is exactly what I need now. I read this in the Amazon review (from Library Journal): "Tapahonso states that for people like herself who live away from their homelands, "writing is the means for... restoring our spirits to the state of hozho , or beauty, which is the basis of Navajo philosophy." This book makes me want to write about my snippets of family memories, or read more from people like Tapahonso who can beautifully capture what I can't seem to put my finger on.
October 7, 2019
Luci Tapahonso is a wonderful storyteller. Her poems and prose were in this collection were a delightful, intriguing and moving read. I fell in love with her visual and vivid imagery as in this excerpt from Blue Horses Rush In.
"Before the birth, she moved and pushed inside her mother. Her heart pounded quickly and we recognized the sound of horses running:
the thundering of hooves on the desert floor...
She arrived amid a herd of horses,
horses of different colors..."
Booklist writes, "...Tapahono provides us with a true bridge to her culture and its spiritual insights" and so it is. I walked with her, I drove with her, I felt the struggle and joys of a mother alone with her children. I felt her losses and heartaches. I reveled in the poignant wisdom of her stories. In "Just Past Shiprock" she writes of a wise older cousin who while on a road trip, piled in the back of a pickup truck told a story that stuck with them and sticks with me. She pointed to a rock and told how a couple with a very sick young baby traveling through, had finally laid their daughter to rest, there. She said, "So that's why when we come through here, remember those rocks and the baby who was buried there...Think about her and be quiet. Those rocks might look like any others, but they're special." This was really meaningful because not long after reading the book I was traveling from Bisbee toward Tombstone, and there was all this chatter and banter in the car and I looked out and saw Tombstone in the distance and thought wow, can we just look out here and be still and imagine what it was like for all those people long ago to travel this on horseback or on foot even. So much we slip by, so much we take for granted. This ease of traveling in a car, so that this car becomes our universe. And we are disconnected from the scenery around us. When that is supposedly why we took the trip in the first place. To see these historic places. For me, that has of late become less about seeing and more about feeling. I daresay, words like Luci Tapahonso's have helped cultivate that in me.
"Before the birth, she moved and pushed inside her mother. Her heart pounded quickly and we recognized the sound of horses running:
the thundering of hooves on the desert floor...
She arrived amid a herd of horses,
horses of different colors..."
Booklist writes, "...Tapahono provides us with a true bridge to her culture and its spiritual insights" and so it is. I walked with her, I drove with her, I felt the struggle and joys of a mother alone with her children. I felt her losses and heartaches. I reveled in the poignant wisdom of her stories. In "Just Past Shiprock" she writes of a wise older cousin who while on a road trip, piled in the back of a pickup truck told a story that stuck with them and sticks with me. She pointed to a rock and told how a couple with a very sick young baby traveling through, had finally laid their daughter to rest, there. She said, "So that's why when we come through here, remember those rocks and the baby who was buried there...Think about her and be quiet. Those rocks might look like any others, but they're special." This was really meaningful because not long after reading the book I was traveling from Bisbee toward Tombstone, and there was all this chatter and banter in the car and I looked out and saw Tombstone in the distance and thought wow, can we just look out here and be still and imagine what it was like for all those people long ago to travel this on horseback or on foot even. So much we slip by, so much we take for granted. This ease of traveling in a car, so that this car becomes our universe. And we are disconnected from the scenery around us. When that is supposedly why we took the trip in the first place. To see these historic places. For me, that has of late become less about seeing and more about feeling. I daresay, words like Luci Tapahonso's have helped cultivate that in me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 7, 2011
Tapahonso writes stories and poems the way we speak them. Sitting down to read this book is like sitting down with your old old grandmother while she tells stories from her own life. The use of her native language alongside English opens doors to a world where not everyone may follow. Even if you're not familiar with the Navajo language you can appreciate the fluid way Tapahonso incorporates the Navajo words within the mainly English text, proving that language is a maliable thing that can be molded to reach poetic conclusions.
November 4, 2020
This was an interesting book. I enjoyed the stories and the poetry and the glimpse into Navajo life. I could relate to some of her stories and I enjoyed feeling like I was a part of it. My only wish is that there were more poems.
January 17, 2008
Fantastic Native American poems and stories.
October 18, 2013
One of the best books of poetry I've read in a long time. Genius.
October 4, 2021
Tell me words of healing,
words of holiness.
Luci Tapahonso drive us inside her Navajo culture in this anthology of poems and stories which were told to her when she was younger. She explains that she wrote this to feel closer to her homeland, because she lives now far away and its a way of remembering. Told in first person, she shares us stories that were passed down generation to generation and that when they’re told, they usually come with songs. She includes also stories of her own family, not necessarily inside the Navajo folklore but not therefore, separated from it for her life is so linked to it.
She's very clear when she explains that to the Navajo people, those who can tell stories and poems and sing are considered to have “beautiful voices” and are believed to have a high upbringing. Even in this time of television, the oral tradition is fiercely rooted inside the Navajo culture and has an important role on the family bonds. In every story, the family is never far away, and although the writing is simple, one cannot stop noticing the beauty of it. When finishing the book, one feels the strong connections that the author feels themselves of not only her culture, but her family. It’s a beautifully and emotional anthology, and you can never miss with this one.
words of holiness.
Luci Tapahonso drive us inside her Navajo culture in this anthology of poems and stories which were told to her when she was younger. She explains that she wrote this to feel closer to her homeland, because she lives now far away and its a way of remembering. Told in first person, she shares us stories that were passed down generation to generation and that when they’re told, they usually come with songs. She includes also stories of her own family, not necessarily inside the Navajo folklore but not therefore, separated from it for her life is so linked to it.
She's very clear when she explains that to the Navajo people, those who can tell stories and poems and sing are considered to have “beautiful voices” and are believed to have a high upbringing. Even in this time of television, the oral tradition is fiercely rooted inside the Navajo culture and has an important role on the family bonds. In every story, the family is never far away, and although the writing is simple, one cannot stop noticing the beauty of it. When finishing the book, one feels the strong connections that the author feels themselves of not only her culture, but her family. It’s a beautifully and emotional anthology, and you can never miss with this one.
February 5, 2023
The Women are Singing" by Luci Tapahonso, has been around about 20 years, but reads as fresh as new. Tapahonso taught (and may still) at the University of Kansas, but what interested me is that she is Dinee', a Navajo from Shiprock, New Mexico, 25 miles from where I grew up. I loved this book, perhaps for it feels like home. Her pattern of speech and writing is familiar and very Navajo, in both the poems and the several stories she includes. I would not have had to read the intro to know she is Dinee' (the Navajo name for themselves.) Wonderful poems. I will look for more of her writing.
May 29, 2020
This is one of the most important books to me. This book spoke to me as a Navajo, Dineh, woman. I felt as if Ms. Tapahanso was speaking to me and writing about my life. I learned so much. It made me want to learn more. I felt in love with her writing and read everything I could. I truly appreciate this book. It is a beautiful book. I love everything about it. Ahehee
March 3, 2021
WOW! I don't know that I've ever read works so evocative of the FEELING of a place and the people who inhabit it. Her poems really knock it out of the park for me in this regard. The stories leave me wanting.
October 4, 2024
I didn't realize who the author was until I got to Raisin Eyes, and realized I'd once had it on CD and that it was one of the last poems from that collection that I deleted because I'd heard it so many times. Very expressive voice, all about Navajo life and culture etc.
March 17, 2021
I entered Tapahonso's world at the pace of one poem/story every morning.
December 11, 2021
Lovely book. Tears welled a few times.
September 13, 2023
I loved her narrative style.
December 20, 2020
A wonderful book of poems and stories about Tapahonso's life and family in Shiprock, New Mexico. She beautifully intertwines life and death, and aspects of Navajo family, culture, and beliefs. The writings are about simple everyday subjects: raising children, death, family pets, or family interactions; yet they are all beautifully written using both English and the Navajo language. A wonderful book!
February 26, 2013
"Blue Horses Rush In," "Hills Brothers Coffee," and "The Snakeman" provide a good sampling of the book as a whole--memoir poetry/short prose stories, affective, stylistically conservative free verse, occasionally politically charged.
December 14, 2008
This is my favorite book of poems. I adore Luci Tapahonso. My favorite poem in here is Raisin Eyes.
May 3, 2017
This is a gorgeous collection of poetry and stories that depict both the modern lives of Tapahonso's family and the history of genocide and relocation that occurred for the native people of the U.S. There are stories and poems bout commonplace family events such as visiting relatives and being allowed to go into town with the family and also stories of the boarding schools that native children were forced to go to and the reality that many tribes had a "trail of tears" in which thousands were lost.
In the introduction Tapahonso takes a moment to educate the reader that in the tradition of her tribe, the Dine/Navajo, the stories and poems she shared were not hers alone--that they belong to the people, she is just one of the voices who passed them on.
This collection is heart-breaking and sad as well as beautiful and moving in it's depictions of the attachments of family and community. I loved it.
In the introduction Tapahonso takes a moment to educate the reader that in the tradition of her tribe, the Dine/Navajo, the stories and poems she shared were not hers alone--that they belong to the people, she is just one of the voices who passed them on.
This collection is heart-breaking and sad as well as beautiful and moving in it's depictions of the attachments of family and community. I loved it.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews