stories from the farm

Sherman Alexie’s “7. Jonah” could be taken as just a part of the horrifying poem about how the cure to cancer had been found in Indian bone marrow, but, studied alone, it becomes a poem about how modern day Indians are starting to forget about their culture and ancestry. “…Silence is the thing/we must learn to fear…” Alexie cautions that, while maintaining the old culture will be difficult, silence is what will make it fail for sure. Someone must point the phenomenon out. But, Alexie also realizes the need for keeping the American culture as well, such as when he suggests that the revolution needs “weapons and white friends”. In the end, he concludes that it is the Indians who must keep their culture and honor their ancestors; no one can do it for them. The idea is broader, though, and can be applied to almost every culture that has transplanted itself in America since its independence, and even before. It is the people whose ancestors made up those cultures who must continue their unique traditions.

7. jonah
by Sherman Alexie

Excerpt from “The Farm”

We've been planning the revolution for years.
We have weapons and white friends, but I fear
Indians have forgotten how to survive.
It's a complicated song and dance. Late at night
we practice. We pound invisible drums. We sing
with our mouths closed. Silence is the thing
we must learn to fear. This is the plan.
One night, we will slip from our beds and stand
together. We will stamp our feet in unison
and sing the same song loudly with strong lungs
and hearts. We will sing the old songs.
Cousins, this is not where we belong.
Way, ya, hi, yo. Way, ya, hi, yo.
Way, ya, hi, yo. Way, ya, hi, yo.
Cousins, remember how we sang and danced back then.
During the revolution, we will find our music again.

~~poverty of mirrors~~

By Sherman Alexie

You wake these mornings alone and nothing
can be forgiven; you drink the last
swallow of warm beer from the can
beside the bed, tell the stranger sleeping
on the floor to go home. It's too easy

to be no one with nothing to do, only
slightly worried about the light bill
more concerned with how dark day gets.

You walk alone on moist pavement wondering
what color rain is in the country.
Does the world out there revolve around rooms
without doors or windows? Centering the mirror
you found in the trash, walls seem closer
and you can never find the right way

out, so you open the fridge again
for a beer, find only rancid milk and drink it
whole. This all tastes too familiar.

mirror, mirror on the wall

Sherman Alexie’s “Poverty of Mirrors” uses the mirror as a symbol of life. In the poem, Alexie describes a despondent life, most likely influenced by the poet’s experiences as an alcoholic. In the lines, “…Centering the mirror/you found in the trash, walls seem closer/and you can never find the right way out…” the person in the poem, assumed to be Alexie because of his life’s experience, looks into the mirror and sees his life reflected back at him for what it really is. In the lines, the mirror puts the situation in a harsher light and assures the person looking into it that he can never escape from their suffering. Also in the poem, Alexie poses the question of whether life in the country revolves around rooms without windows or doors, and sets up the countryside as the unobtainable freedom he wants. At the end of the poem, Alexie ends up at the same place he started, looking for a beer. While the poem describes the life of a failure, it is truly one of hope since Alexie was able to turn his life around. In the end, “Poverty of Mirrors” urges one to have hope, even when life is stuck in a seemingly endless rut.