Lesly’s Blog

From my understanding, Long Soldier expresses her apologies to the Native Americans. She gives us an insight into her dual citizenship. She is both an American Citizen but also a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. As I read her book, I feel she is expressing the Native Americans pain. She uses the words and history to voice out what they went through. Poetry is good to express stuff like this because of the wording. Poetry allows the person to put in their own views or opinions. The poet might be saying something and you yourself have to piece it together.  One poem that I found interesting was "38". I found this poem interesting because she talks about the 38 Dakota men that were hung.  Without money, store credit, or rights to hunt beyond their ten-mile tract of land, Dakota people began to starve The Dakota people were starving The Dakota people starved (Long Soldier 51) In this poem, Long Soldier talks about the promise the US treaty had with the Dakota Nation