Shaking the Pumpkin: Traditional Poetry of the Indian North Americas

by Jerome Rothenberg

In the aftermath of Technicians of the Sacred (1968) the next step Jerome Rothenberg took toward the construction of an experimental ethnopoetics was an assemblage of traditional works and commentaries thereon focused entirely on one of the world's still surviving and incredibly diverse deep cultures. The resultant work, Shaking the Pumpkin: Traditional Poetry of the Indian North Americas , is the Mount Rushmore not only of literary archeology but also for understanding the forms, conditions and promise of being American, which Walt Whitman, among others, holds is being a poet.

Genres: Poetry, Native American, Book Club, American

452 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Jerome Rothenberg is an internationally known American poet, translator and anthologist who is noted for his work in ethnopoetics and poetry performance.

Reviews

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

An astonishing collection of Native American poetry. I might choose this book as my "desert island" pick. It certainly makes the list.

My favorite section is devoted to "events". Here are some of the selections:

CRAZY DOG EVENTS
Crow

1. Act like a crazy dog. Wear sashes & other fine clothes, carry a rattle, & dance along the roads singing crazy dog songs after everybody else has gone to bed.

2. Talk crosswise: say the opposite of what you mean & make others say the opposite of what they mean in return.

3. Fight like a fool by rushing up to an enemy & offering to be killed. Dig a hole near an enemy, & when the enemy surrounds it, leap out at them & drive them back.

4. Paint yourself white, mount a white horse, cover its eyes & make it jump down a steep & rocky bank, until both of you are crushed.


VISION EVENT I
Inuit

Go to a lonely place & rub a stone in a circle on a rock for hours & days on end.


VISION EVENT II
Inuit

Let the person who wants a vision hang himself by the neck. When his face turns purple, take him down & have him describe what he’s seen.


VISION EVENT III
Sioux

Go to a mountaintop & cry for a vision.

[Mia · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of these translations are very dubious. Still, the ceremonies, horse-songs, hand games, visions, 'moon eclipse exorcisms' and poems 'to be recited every 8 years while eating unleavened tamles,' & sundry are delicious. To quote the title of one poem: "MAGIC WORDS & MORE MORE MORE MAGIC WORDS."

[W.B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seminal.

[Jules · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the songs and coyote stories the best but the poetry is powerful too.

[Mills College Library]

897 R8461 1972