In her new essay, poet Natalie Diaz writes about the intersection of her Native identity with her poems and introduces five important Native voices in contemporary poetry: Sherwin Bitsui, Joan Naviyuk Kane, Margaret Noodin, Michael Wasson, and Ofelia Zepeda.
"Native poetry is a crafted, honed, learned art, requiring skill," she writes. "It is a choice made with great consideration—to use the white space that once silenced us as a platform to speak loudly."