Native poet to share her words and creative thoughts on Sept. 27

Joelle Peters

8/16/2001 12:00:00 AM

Kimberly Blaeser

Community members will have the opportunity to share writings and listen to poetry while a Native American author visits the Isabella Reservation.

The Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Library will be hosting a Poetry Night on Sept. 27 from 6-8 p.m. at the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort Swan Creek Room. Author and poet Kimberly Blaeser will lead an evening of Ojibwe stories and poetry with guests encouraged to read their own works.

"It's great that she is coming to share with the community," said G. Alyssa Sadler, Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Librarian.

During this event, members of the community will be sharing their original stories and poems. The attendees also have the opportunity to summit their works in a writing contest.

"I am, of course, honored to be invited, honored that my work has found a readership among Native people," stated Blaeser. "The people who have shared the experiences of reservation life, who bear the same history-these are the people for whom I write." Blaeser grew up on the White Earth Reservation and is an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.

The contest is open to Tribal members, employees and anyone who is interested and includes all ages. Those who participate and share their work will receive a special gift, Blaeser's first collection of poetry "Trailing You." There will also be refreshments and snacks available.

"This is an open topic contest," stated Sadler. "Feel free to write about anything that inspires you."

Blaeser said she includes a variety of topics in her works, ranging from Indian experiences to the natural world.

"In much of my work I incorporate, whether consciously or not, a kind of ironic humor," Blaeser explained. "Sometimes reality is just too absurd to do otherwise or to survive without laughter. I try to render the complicated nature of reality, the overlappings of existence, the strange elasticity of time, the mysteries we come to take for granted.

"I often have a storytelling or narrative quality in my poetry and I include the voices I hear or have heard. I include song here and there as I try to give my poems the depth of actual experience."

Blaeser has received a variety of awards for specializing in Native American literature and American nature writing. She has also been honored for her public speaking.

Recently, she received a Wisconsin Arts Board Fellowship. Some of the other awards that she has received include the North American Native Authors First Book Award and The Diane Decorah First Book Award in Poetry.

She has published three books and over 60 of her works have appeared in anthologies and journals. She has also lectured in over 100 locations in the world including the United States, Canada and Europe.

Her latest collection of poetry, "Absentee Indians," is scheduled to be published soon. She is also working on a creative collage entitled "Family Tree."

Blaeser is an associate professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she teaches courses in Native American literature, creative writing and American nature writing. She lives on six and a half acres in rural Wisconsin with her husband, Len Wardzala and her children, Gavin and Amber.

As a teacher, Blaeser has tips for aspiring writers.

"The key is to write even when you don't feel like it," she said. "The trick is to get started and then the juices begin to flow. Establish a writing time and use it. Set yourself goals or deadlines."

The established author also suggested using opportunities available to Native writers, including the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers. Visit www.word craftcircle.org for more information.

The writer stated that the biggest challenge of being a Native author and poet is not having enough time.

"There is the endless query: are you a writer who happens to be an Indian or an Indian writer?" explained Blaeser. "For me it is similar to what comes first, the mother in me or the poet? We cannot segregate our realities; we all bring complicated selves to the work we do. We write the questions as well as the answers and remember, the answers keep changing."