Out There Somewhere

by Simon J. Ortiz

He has been out there somewhere for a while now, a poet at large in America. Simon Ortiz, one of our finest living poets, has been a witness, participant, and observer of interactions between the Euro-American cultural world and that of his Native American people for many years. In this collection of haunting new work, he confronts moments and instances of his personal past—and finds redemption in the wellspring of his culture. A writer known for deeply personal poetry, Ortiz has produced perhaps his most personal work to date. In a collage of journal entries, free-verse poems, and renderings of poems in the Acoma language, he draws on life experiences over the past ten years—recalling time spent in academic conferences and writers' colonies, jails and detox centers—to convey something of the personal and cultural history of dislocation. As an American Indian artist living at times on the margins of mainstream culture, Ortiz has much to tell about the trials of alcoholism, poverty, displacement. But in the telling he affirms the strength of Native culture even under the most adverse conditions and confirms the sustaining power of Native beliefs and "With our hands, we know the sacred earth. / With our spirits, we know the sacred sky." Like many of his fellow Native Americans, Ortiz has been "out there somewhere"—Portland and San Francisco, Freiburg, Germany, and Martinique—away from his original homeland, culture, and community. Yet, as these works show, he continues to be absolutely connected socially and culturally to Native "We insist that we as human cultural beings must always have this connection," he writes, "because it is the way we maintain a Native sense of existence." Drawing on this storehouse of places, times, and events, Out There Somewhere is a rich fusion taking readers into the heart and soul of one of today's most exciting and original American poets.

Genres: Poetry, Indigenous

158 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1902

About the author

Simon J. Ortiz is a Puebloan writer of the Acoma Pueblo tribe, and one of the key figures in the second wave of what has been called the Native American Renaissance. He is one of the most respected and widely read Native American poets.

After a three-year stint in the U.S. military, Ortiz enrolled at the University of New Mexico. There, he discovered few ethnic voices within the American literature canon and began to pursue writing as a way to express the generally unheard Native American voice that was only beginning to emerge in the midst of political activism.

Two years later, in 1968, he received a fellowship for writing at the University of Iowa in the International Writers Program.

In 1988, he was appointed as tribal interpreter for Acoma Pueblo, and in 1989 he became First Lieutenant Governor for the pueblo. In 1982, he became a consulting editor of the Pueblo of Acoma Press.

Since 1968, Ortiz has taught creative writing and Native American literature at various institutions, including San Diego State, the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, Navajo Community College, the College of Marin, the University of New Mexico, Sinte Gleska University, and the University of Toronto.

Ortiz is a recipient of the New Mexico Humanities Council Humanitarian Award, the National Endowment for the Arts Discovery Award, the Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Writer's Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and was an Honored Poet recognized at the 1981 White House Salute to Poetry.

In 1981, From Sand Creek: Rising In This Heart Which Is Our America, received the Pushcart Prize in poetry.

Ortiz received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Returning the Gift Festival of Native Writers (the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers) and the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas (1993)

Reviews

[Nadine in NY Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a hard time with these poems. They feel very confessional and semi-autobiographical, but I was not always sure if I was interpreting them correctly, because if they mean what I think they mean, I don't like the meaning very much.

For example, I'm not sure what this poem is about. What I'm reading is a man who has struggled with substance abuse issues, who has been violent, who has let his family down, this man has gotten sober and is doing his steps, but he sounds angry that the people he has hurt and abandoned are not instantly accepting his apology and welcoming him back as a changed man. I feel like I'm supposed to sympathize with the man here, but I sympathized with the mother, who has had to struggle on her own to raise her child with no help from him. She's heard this from him before and she knows better than to trust him now. What is the spring? Is this a threat of violence coiling up in his arm? What happens when the police come? Am I reading a justification for domestic violence and suicide-by-cop? Because that's what it sounds like.

The Spring
He told her what he was going to do.
What else is new? she said.
She finished putting the winter jumper on the baby. She kissed and hugged her.
He stood there like he stood at the corner of the world.
I told you, she said, what you do is your business. You don't have any here.
He held out his trembly hand to the baby.
The baby looked at it like she might look at cold chicken.
Baby, he said weakly.
Uummgh, the baby said, and she hugged her mother.
There wasn't much on the other side of his fate except the usual wreckage.
Go on, he said again. She’s probably there. She’ll tell you.
I know what she'll say. The usual shit. Go to hell, she said. Right now.
Go hell, the baby said.
There wasn't anything to say anymore.
Might as well talk to the fucking sky.
He tried one more time though. What are you going to do? he said.
She didn't hesitate . I'll call the fucking cops if you don’t leave right now, she said.
Rye now, the baby said.
His head spun down from the larger circle.
The spiral became small. Then smaller and tight. Like a spring.
Please don't do that, he said. His voice quavered. Please just listen.
He felt like the coiled spring was in his hand.
It made his whole arm tremble.
The baby was now fully dressed and mother and child moved toward the door.
Please leave, he heard his ex - wife say.
You must try, the counselor had said. Forgive yourself.
He had tried and he had tried and he had failed every task.
Keep a journal, the counselor had said. Do your fourth step.
Talk to your sponsor, keep talking, go to meetings, make amends.
He had tried and then he had not tried.
Keep failing, keep failing, and finally you will have what you do not.
Finally you will have what you do not have.
The end of the world will be yours.
When the police came, he stood outside the door. The spring loaded and ready.

They're not all like that. There are a lot of poems like this, too:

"Indians" Wanted
Real or unreal.
Real and/or unreal.
They were made up.
It didn't matter.

They were what people in Europe believed.
They were what people in Europe wanted: to believe.
They were what people in Europe wanted. To believe.

Indians were what people in Europe wanted to believe. Indians were what people in Europe wanted to believe. Indians were what people in Europe wanted to believe.

"Indians" were what people in Europe wanted to believe.

"Indians" were what Europeans wanted. To believe.

"Indians" were what Europeans believed.

"Indians were what Europeans believed."

Believe it or not. Believe it or not. Believe it or not. Believe it or not! Believe it or not!

Ortiz likes to use repetition and common phrases together like that. Perhaps he is a spoken word performer? I don’t know.


And there a lot of more spiritual poems about Ortiz's deep connection to the land:

Your Life You Are Carrying
This is the dirt.
This is the land.

This is ours.
This is our land.

Reach down.
Touch the dirt.
Touch the land.

Pick up the dirt.
Pick up the land.

Dirt you are holding.
Land you are carrying.

Your life you are carrying.
This is what I am showing and telling you.
This is what I am telling and showing.

This may be powerful for spiritual people of varying beliefs, I can appreciate it for that, but it doesn’t do anything for me.

[Michelle Boyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simon Ortiz remains one of the most well-known American Indian (Acoma Pueblo) poets living today. He began writing during the American Indian Literary Renaissance and is quite prolific. His poetry weaves real-life events, oral stories, history, and Pueblo culture together, creating experiences that allow both Native and non-Native readers insights into Ortiz's world.

Out There Somewhere is divided into six parts. Part I (Margins) contains numerous politically driven statements that discuss colonization and post-colonization effects on Native peoples. Many of the poems are also written as if they are journal entries, and several reveal personal past experiences that Ortiz himself faced. This includes instances where individuals call the Pueblo language "foreign"--which of course it cannot be, as it is a language that is Indigenous to the North Americas and is not "foreign."

Part II (Images) deals with self-identity issues. I believe that one of the strongest poems in the entire book--"What Indians?"--is found in this section. This poem discusses the way in which colonized peoples are often forced into a certain identity by those that have colonized them. The poem states:

Like other colonized Indigenous peoples, cultures, and communities throughout the world, Native Americans have experienced and endured identities imposed upon them by colonial powers, most of which originated in Europe. This imposition as resulted to a great extent--more than we admit and realize--in the loss of a sense of a centered human self and the weakening and loss of Indigenous cultural identity.

Part III (Gifts) delves into small daily gifts that people have in their lives. This includes family for many. For Ortiz, he also counts a special garden that he and his family tend. Part IV (Horizons) includes several key poems that discuss knowledge, especially Pueblo language, and how it can be used. This section includes the "Acoma Poems" which are written entirely in Acoma Pueblo language--a special treat!--and they are then translated. I find it quite significant to see Indigenous authors writing in their own language; this section is beautifully written. Part V (Ever) includes several pieces that deal with ceremonies and Part VI (Connections After All) has some wonderful poems that are to be read more like songs.

Overall, all of these poems leave an impression on the reader. Ortiz masterfully uses different types of poems to relay information to the reader, sharing with us what it means to be Acoma Pueblo, Native, American, and a human. The imagery is fascinating and poems like "What Indians?" will leave you reflecting. Highly recommended!

[Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unfortunately the description that accompanies this book on the Goodreads iPad app is for another book by another author, but this is an intense and demanding series of poems by the Acoma writer Simon Ortiz. Most of the poems that have a setting are set in Arizona or New Mexico, but there are poignant poems that are either vaguely set or set in the universe at large. Some are written in the Acoma language, and many rely on repeated stanzas, much like the chorus of a song, reinforcing the oft-repeated admonition to read poetry aloud. Life-affirming stuff here to be sure.

[Sezin Koehler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful poetry from the incredible Native American activist Simon Ortiz. I had the pleasure of spending time with him here in Prague and his poetry is very much like him, strong yet simple. He is a poet of few words, and there is something so indigenous about that. I love this book. I love that it's autographed. I love that I got to meet him. I really can't wait to go to the American southwest and visit with him and his family on their land.

[Willow · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first I hated this book. Hated the repetition, hated the speaker, hated his opinion, hated his apparent racism against ME. Then, I read it and realized that the repetition was important because it was different voices speaking, asking questions and exploring. He probably doesn't hate me, but even if he does, I can still enjoy his poetry. And I kinda agree with him, actually.

[Ava · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was amazing! I love how it showed the anger and frustrations minority groups can feel while just existing because racism is so systematic and built into every part of life. However, Simon learned existence is resistance and reclaimed his connection and happiness which I love.

[Alexander Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed "A Gift to Give and Receive" as well as "Culture and The Universe." That first poem really struck a cord with me and my history, but the latter one was profound and made me think of things I don't tend to think about.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a gorgeous book. Will be reading many, many times over