Poet-Chief Quotes

“In all of the languages of the five hundred original North American Indian cultures, and in most of the southern hemisphere, there is no word for "art" apart from the spiritual or tribal functions that any esthetic creation might serve. This creation is non-mimetic, that is, it is not a copy or shadow of the real but incorporates reality, in essence, and becomes the thing itself. For the word-sender, the singing of the poem is sacred and practical rather than secular and artistic. The purpose is to name, mythify; initiate, heal, unify, or psychically transport, rather than, as we understand the artistic function, for individual self-expression, entertainment, or purely esthetic pleasure. Beauty is not a secondary reflection of goodness, but, as with the Pueblos, "good" and "beautiful" are the same word.”
― james nolan, Poet-Chief: The Native American Poetics of Walt Whitman and Pablo Neruda