Luci Tapahonso has fed and continues to feed the minds of people all over the country with her beautiful poetry and writings. Her poetry often features women, much like herself, as well as stories from her childhood. She has written for many popular magazines as well as academic and poetry journals about her struggles growing up as a Native American woman. Her stories are an inspiration to all Native and non-Native alike.
Born in 1953, she was raised on a farm on the Navajo reservation in Shiprock, New Mexico. The town was very small, only about a 16-mile radius, and growing up as a native she experienced everything from severe racism, criticism, and death. Tapahonso began writing poetry at the early age of about 8 years old, which was influenced …show more content…
She is having a conversation with him at the breakfast table and he is drinking coffee. “I just came over/ The store is where I’m going to” (Tapahonso, 27). This line in the poem uses the syntax subject-object-verb. “Some coffee has no kick/ But this one is the one/ It does it good for me” (Tapahonso). That line of the same poem uses the object-subject-verb syntax of the Navajo language. Her need to use the syntax comes from wanting to stick to her Native American roots. This style of writing makes her poetry and stories unique as they both make sense in Navajo and when translated to English.
Luci Tapahonso also uses her Navajo background as a way to show readers her connection with the Southwest and her knowledge of what her people deal with. Tapahonso utilizes her poetry to bring attention to the racism and the ugliness surrounding the towns closest to the reservations where Navajo live (Sellers). In her poetry, she speaks of cashiers who insult or completely ignore the Navajo and the murders that happen surrounding the reservation due to their
Born in 1953, she was raised on a farm on the Navajo reservation in Shiprock, New Mexico. The town was very small, only about a 16-mile radius, and growing up as a native she experienced everything from severe racism, criticism, and death. Tapahonso began writing poetry at the early age of about 8 years old, which was influenced …show more content…
She is having a conversation with him at the breakfast table and he is drinking coffee. “I just came over/ The store is where I’m going to” (Tapahonso, 27). This line in the poem uses the syntax subject-object-verb. “Some coffee has no kick/ But this one is the one/ It does it good for me” (Tapahonso). That line of the same poem uses the object-subject-verb syntax of the Navajo language. Her need to use the syntax comes from wanting to stick to her Native American roots. This style of writing makes her poetry and stories unique as they both make sense in Navajo and when translated to English.
Luci Tapahonso also uses her Navajo background as a way to show readers her connection with the Southwest and her knowledge of what her people deal with. Tapahonso utilizes her poetry to bring attention to the racism and the ugliness surrounding the towns closest to the reservations where Navajo live (Sellers). In her poetry, she speaks of cashiers who insult or completely ignore the Navajo and the murders that happen surrounding the reservation due to their