Poet laureate of the Navajo Nation is paying it forward
As a child, Laura Tohe secretly wanted to be a writer. She kept the dream to herself because in school she only read the works of white authors.
“I thought only white people could become writers,” she said. “All those years I kept my yearning to be a writer in the closet.”
Today, Tohe is poet laureate of the Navajo Nation. She was recently awarded a $50,000 grant from the Academy of American Poets.
She is one of 23 poets laureate to receive the esteemed fellowship in 2020.
“I’m thrilled, excited and grateful for the fellowship,” Tohe said. “It’s one of the highlights of my writing life.”
Several of her pieces explore the spirit of elements. She finds a magical spot where body and nature seem to become one.
Much like its title, her poem “Meeting the Spirit of Water” creates a bond between the reader and the elements of a lake. Tohe wrote, “place your hand into its belly / feel the energy / stroke its power / caress the life source / let it run through your hands / say a prayer”
Her poem “Female Rain” has a similar semblance. “At dawn she gives birth to a gentle mist / flowers bow with wet sustenance / luminescence all around ...” Tohe wrote.
Interpretation is ultimately left to the reader.
Tohe is of the Sleepy-Rock People clan and born for the Bitter Water People clan. A poet and librettist, she is the author of “Making Friends with Water; No Parole Today” which was named poetry book of the year by the Wordcraft Circle of Native American Writers and Story
tellers in 1999.
As a librettist, Tohe writes for oratorios and operas.
Her latest oratorio work “Nahasdzaan in the Glittering World” made its world premiere in April at the Opéra de Rouen in Normandy, France. It’s scheduled for another performance in Grenoble in 2021.
Tohe is also professor emerita with distinction at Arizona State University.
Over the years, her work has garnered recognition and several awards, but she didn’t get serious about writing poetry until after college.
“I realized that writing is political when you make the invisible visible,” she said.
“Writing became a way to seek out my own truths about history, assimilation and colonization because I was living during many movements taking place across the U.S. like the American Indian Movement, anti-war, women’s equal rights and civil rights.”
Making the invisible visible is exactly what Tohe plans to do with her grant from the fellowship and what she’s done through her role as poet laureate of Navajo Nation since 2015.
“Unfortunately, many of the Navajo people don’t know who our writers are and what they’ve written. Their work isn’t taught in the schools, even though many have been publishing books, poetry and fiction for years and winning prestigious awards,” Tohe said.
“It’s important that our community know who our writers are and to support their work in the schools and community.”
Grants from the Academy of American Poets must be used to lead civic poetry programs.
Tohe plans to work with Saad Bee Hozho, a collective of writers from the Navajo Nation, and the Emerging Diné Writers Institute this summer to support the next generation of writers through creative writing workshops, panel discussions and poetry readings.
These programs will be offered virtually though Navajo Technical University.
Tohe hopes that her work inspires and encourages people to think and rethink.
“Perhaps they will gain a greater appreciation for the beauty of poetry that touches us in so many ways,” Tohe said.
Details: Find more of Laura Tohe’s work at lauratohe.com. Information on the Academy of American Poets is at poets.org.