Judges’ Citation Whereas asks and since Whereas rarely asks, I am moved to respond, Whereas, I have learned to exist and exist without your formality, saltshakers, plates, cloth. WHEREAS a string-bean blue-eyed man leans back into a swig of beer work-weary lips at the dark bottle keeping cool in short sleeves and khakis he enters the discussion;Whereas his wrist loose at the bottleneck to come across as candid “Well at least there was an Apology that’s all I can say” he offers to the circle each of them scholarly;Whereas under starlight the fireflies wink across East Coast grass and me I sit there painful in my silence glued to a bench in the midst of the American casual;Whereas a subtle electricity in that low purple light I felt their eyes on my face gauging a reaction and someone’s discomfort leaks out in a well-stated “Hmmm”;Whereas like a bird darting from an oncoming semi my mind races to the Apology’s assertion “While the establishment of permanent European settlements in North America did stir conflict with nearby Indian tribes, peaceful and mutually beneficial interactions also took place”;Whereas I cross my arms and raise a curled hand to my mouth as if thinking as if  taking it in I allow a static quiet then choose to stand up excusing myself  I leave them to unease;Whereas I drive down the road replaying the get-together how the man and his beer bottle stated their piece and I reel at what I could have said or done better;Whereas I could’ve but didn’t broach the subject of “genocide” the absence of this term from the Apology and its rephrasing as “conflict” for example;Whereas since the moment had passed I accept what’s done and the knife of my conscience pierces with bone-clean self-honesty;Whereas in a stirred conflict between settlers and an Indian that night in a circle;Whereas I struggle to confess that I didn’t want to explain anything;Whereas truthfully I wished most to kick the legs of that man’s chair out from under him;Whereas to watch him fall backward legs flailing beer stench across his chest;Whereas I pictured it happening in cinematic slow-motion delightful;Whereas the curled hand I raised to my mouth was a sign of indecision;Whereas I could’ve done it but I didn’t;Whereas I can admit this also took place, yes, at least; WHEREAS we ride to the airport in a van they swivel their necks and shoulders around to speak to me sugar and lilt in their voices something like nurses their nursely kindness through my hair then engage me as comrades in a fight together. Finalist for the National Book Award for Poetry WHEREAS her birth signaled the responsibility as mother to teach what it is to be Lakota therein the question: What did I know about being Lakota? She has served as a contributing editor of Drunken Boat, and her poems have appeared in The American Poet, The American Reader, and The Kenyon Review Online. Together we reach a full-stop. Layli Long Soldier’s Whereas reminds me of the Proclamation and other proclamatory documents authored by Indigenous writers on Alcatraz and since. Whereas is a personal reaction to this and a documentation of life as a member of the Oglala Sioux tribe. Chromosomory book. It’s here we roll along the pavement into hills of conversation we share a ride we share a country but live in alternate nations and here I must tell them what they don’t know or, should I? The first and larger half of Layli Long Soldier’s WHEREAS is made up of seventeen individual poems, the second is one long poem titled “Whereas,” which responds to President Obama’s 2009 congressional resolution of apology to Native Americans. Drifting in side-glances to whirring trees through the van windows then back to me they dig in they unearth the golden question My God how come we were never taught this in our schools? Her book of poems WHEREAS, published by Graywolf Press in 2017, received the PEN Jean Stein Award and National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize. Letterpress printed by Sister Black Press, this archival broadside, 8.5 x 5.5 inches, will be enclosed in a plastic sleeve for its protection.. Layli Long Soldier, a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation, responds in her first book of poetry, WHEREAS, to the Congressional Resolution of Apology to Native Americans, signed into law by President Barack Obama on 19 December 2009. from Bard College. Whereas by Layli Long Soldier. Her outrage empathy her furrowed brow. About Layli Long Soldier: Layli Long Soldier holds a BFA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts and an MFA with Honors from Bard College. The book was a finalist for the 2017 National Book Award. Her poems have appeared in The American Poet, The American Reader and The Kenyon Review Online. Layli Long Soldier is a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Long Soldier’s own etymologies come from her position as both a ‘citizen of the United States and an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe’. She was awarded a Whiting Writer’s Award in 2016. She is the author of a chapbook, “Chromosomory,” and of a poetry collection, “Whereas,” and won the … She was awarded the Lannan Literary Award for poetry in 2015 along with a National Artist Fellowship from the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. The first and larger half of Layli Long Soldier’s WHEREAS is made up of seventeen individual poems, the second is one long poem titled “Whereas,” which responds to President Obama’s 2009 congressional resolution of apology to Native Americans. Whereas calls me to the table because Whereas precedes and invites. The story of Layla and Majnun was known in Persia as early as the 9th century. Layli Long Soldier reads and discusses her poem "Resolution 2" on August 14, 2020, from her home in Sante Fe, New Mexico. reviewed by Jennifer Michael Hecht. Layli Long Soldier is a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. program. Until a friend comforted, Don’t worry, you and your dau… The saltshakers and plates. On Saturday, December 19, 2009, US President Barack Obama signed the Congressional Resolution of Apology to Native Americans. The poem is by Layli Long Soldier, from Whereas (Graywolf Press, 2017), which won the 2018 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and was short-listed for the National Book Award.She earned a BFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts and an … Under pressure of formalities, I fidget I shake my legs. But why aren’t there any stores there? She was living in Tsaile, Arizona, in the heart of the Navajo Nation. In 2015, Long Soldier was awarded a National Artist Fellowship from the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation and a Lannan Literary Fellowship for Poetry. Layli Long Soldier is a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation and a poet, writer, and artist currently teaching in Randolph College's M.F.A. I have come now. She lives in Arizona and teaches at Diné College. Whereas is a 2017 collection of poetry written by Oglala Lakota author, Layli Long Soldier. They discuss writing as a way to "take the foot off your throat" and as a means to shed that weight and live. In a virtual Q&A Session followed by a live virtual poetry reading on September 22nd, Swarthmore students had the opportunity to directly ask Layli Long Soldier questions and converse with her about her inspirations for Whereas, her journey as an artist, and her … Setting a crucial motif with neither a title nor punctuation, the concluding line then commands, “for the grassesgrassesgrasses.” Long Soldier, an Oglala Lakota poet and 2016 Whiting awardee, offers a personal and reactionary take on Layli Long Soldier and Truong Tran take questions from the audience and talk about their motivations for writing. The cloth. I’m not one for these smiles, Whereas I have spent my life in unholding. Layli Long Soldier received a 2015 Lannan Fellowship for Poetry, a 2015 National Artist Fellowship from the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, and a 2016 Whiting Writers' Award. Would I teach her to be pieces? She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. 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