Speak Like Singing

Speak Like Singing focuses on select Native American writers showcasing the distinct voices and tribal diversities of living Indians. Through the pan-tribal medium of English, a second language for some and now a mother tongue for most, many of these Native writers begin as poets and go on to write novels. Pulitzer novelist and Kiowa poet N. Scott Momaday says, ""I believe that a good many Indian writers rely upon a kind of poetic expression out of necessity, a necessary homage to the native tradition."" Black Elk remembers the wanekia or ""make-live"" prophet of his Lakota Ghost Dance vision ""spoke like singing."" The leaves, grasses, waters, leggeds, wingeds, and crawling beings all listened and danced. ""They were better able now to see the greenness of the world,"" Black Elk says, after heyoka curing songs, ""the wideness of the sacred day, the colors of the earth, and to set these in their minds."" This book honors that talk-song vision for all relatives.