Native Anthologies: Poetry Collection

By Zia Akhtar

The book combines both an entertainment and educational medium. The poems capture the imagination by the vivid detail of the collapsing frontier. The heterogeneous 'Indian' tribes held on their ideals and the literary angle draws from the idioms common to Native Americans in the 19th century and their laconic style of delivery forever stays in memory. The use of the metaphor in the speech allows the natural eloquence to flow through the text and informs the reader of an era when colonialism had reached its zenith and resistance to an advancing and materialist civilization was nearing its end.



The educational strength is that it brings into focus an anthropological study that informs about the framework of the Native societies. The book is linguistically sound, has a clear expression and its scope on the research in humanities is considerable. This will contribute to the analysis of non-agrarian, hunter-gatherer and sedentary societies and the rationale for their existence. It conveys their attachment to land and presents it with authenticity which will assist in other research such as dependence on the orational stories as admissible evidence, geographical mapping and ecological protection.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zia Akhtar
• Release date: Jan 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781839782268

Book preview

(1) Pony trail

On the prairies begins this tale

My journey to a distant grail,

It is a Sun lit day set so bright

All is lush on the meadow in sight.

My steps as a child were chosen

An age comes when to blossom,

In the manner of my people old

That I must venture into now bold.

These tracks lead to a hilly lair

Where animals cross and eagles dare,

The ride's around a long road bent

My pony will find by its scent.

It is start of my roaming in the West

Old skies pale new horizons are set,

There is a glow over a distant rim

When I ascend the lights are dim.

Those stars shall be my guide

It is their arrow that I must abide,

They twinkle above a darkening sky

My roof above seems flung up high.

The Pony on his path bustles

Its long mane the wind rustles,

This mount is of a heart strong

Who I trust will save from wrong.

As I come to a jagged pass

That is between hills on long grass,

If I can find a place to mark.

That will bide me from the dark.

To sleep here I must not harm

My head must rest in my palm,

These rocks shall be my home

Where in the wilds I shall comb.

If I return from this place

With a vision that will trace,

My family and kinsmen will be proud

With hands on heart cry out loud.

On this long timeless span

It will call on me to plan,

As to how will I spend my day

Much of it to fast and pray.

As it was to the manor born

In the wilds’ my life was spawn,

The open air is scent fine

It breathes freshness of the pine.

To four directions I give praise

A sacred pipe to each one raise,

Then follow on with a long cry

To earth, wind, water and sky,

(2) Everywhere Spirit

As I look over the green prairie

Tired after a night weary,

It fills me as with a feeling raw

To see tracks of a bear’s paw.

Here is danger with me alone

In a place that I call my home,

There is a forest as yet unseen

The bushes curl out in a ream,

By my effort I must survive

With all my courage stay alive ,

In the hills around which are strange

They are darken away at the range.

In the spot which is all clear

Where I stand with no fear,

It is here that I shall dig a hole

To rest in place my totem pole.

Under a wood I make a shed

Here lies my buckskin bed,

The earth is now all but paved

On tent above that is caved.

The Native people live on plains

Even in times when it rains,

The homes are shaped in a cone

Of leather hides that are sown.

The Sun bursts through an