Forgotten Oldsmobiles

I just stumbled across this amazing, tremendous piece by Sherman Alexie in The Atlantic from this past October. They’ve a regular feature called By Heart where authors share and discuss their all-time fav poems or passages in literature.

Alexie talked of the atomic bomb of realization, understanding and inspiration that went off in his mind when he read Adrian C. Louis’ Elegy for the Forgotten Oldsmobile.

I enrolled in a poetry workshop that changed my life. On the first day, the teacher, Alex Kuo, gave me an anthology of contemporary Native poetry called Songs from this Earth on Turtle’s Back. There were poems by Adrian C. Louis, a Paiute Indian, and one in particular called “Elegy for the Forgotten Oldsmobile.” If I hadn’t found this poem, I don’t think I ever would have found my way as a writer. I would have been a high school English teacher who coached basketball. My life would have taken a completely different path.
***snip***
I graduated from college and couldn’t find a damn job. So I ended up back on the res. And I was on the res—no job, no money no hope. Those were the days when you wrote letters, so I reached out to Adrian Louis, whose work meant so much to me. I sent him this ranting, raving letter, and he wrote back. There was a $50 bill taped to the paper that said, “Keep writing your poems.” So I did.

A small snippet from the poem that ignited Alexie, the poet whose work speaks so clearly to me that I’m sure he’s communicating directly with my DNA.

July 4th and all is Hell.
Outside my shuttered breath the streets bubble
with flame-loined kids in designer jeans
looking for people to rape or razor.
A madman covered with running sores
is on the street corner singing:
O beautiful for spacious skies…

Go read the article and DEF scroll down to read the whole of Elegy for the Forgotten Oldsmobile. It’s brilliant, earth moving and wild like Ginsberg’s Howl. More poems by Adrian C. Louis here and here.