GRASSESGRASSESGRASSES: RECLAIMING VOICE AND RECONSTRUCTING HISTORY IN LONG SOLDIER’S WHEREAS

Abstract

This article analyzes Whereas (2017) by Oglala Lakota poet Layli Long Soldier as a poetic response to the U.S. government's official apology to Native American peoples. Through experimental form, visual disruptions, and metalinguistic strategies, Long Soldier critiques the language of the Apology and reclaims linguistic and historical agency. The recurring motif of grasses metaphorically connects land, memory, and cultural survival, while the poem “38” foregrounds the trauma of the largest mass execution in U.S. history, exposing the systemic silencing of Indigenous experiences. Drawing from Indigenous and Black feminist theories, postcolonialism, and the concept of escrevivência, the article argues that Whereas redefines poetic practice as political intervention. By engaging in intertextual dialogue with writers such as Conceição Evaristo, Márcia Wayna Kambeba, and Gloria Anzaldúa, Long Soldier situates her work within a transnational feminist tradition that centers marginalized voices and resists historical erasure. The study emphasizes how Native women poets use poetry to reclaim voice, rewrite history, and challenge structures of colonial power, turning language into a site of survival and resistance.