Absentee Indians & Other Poems

Absentee Indians & Other PoemsAbsentee Indians and Other Poems evokes personal yet universal experiences of the places that Native Americans call home, their family and national histories, and the emotional forces that help forge Native American identities. These are poems of exile, loss, and the celebration of that which remains. Anchored in the physical landscape, Blaesers poetry finds the sacred in those ordinary actions that bind a community together. As Blaeser turns to the

political outcries

"More than I could have asked for in a novel

kidnaps a white girl in a pickup truck

these original reminiscences of elders of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe bring to life the creative genius of some of Ojibwe country's most gifted storytellers

All attesting to the wonder of the powwow

revitalize and persist

an Ojibwe basketball star who was murdered at the age of seventeen and whose presence still lingers in the memories of the townsfolk

a richer harvest can be had by preserving ancient ways

share an ethnic heritage but are connected more clearly by a culture of tales

and the Métis and First Nations of the Northwest face hunger and uncertainty as their traditional way of life is threatened

and by the transient nature of the seasons in native dream songs and haiku

He is also a Chippewa Council member who is trying to understand the consequences of a new “emancipation” bill on its way to the floor of the United States Congress