Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit Literature

This stunning, lively, and intimate anthology of poems and short stories chronicles the experiences of American Indians who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and/or two-spirit%E2%80%94an umbrella term referring to "Native gender systems that are outside of colonial gender binaries" and native peoples who identify with these roles. Drawing from new and established authors alike, these 61 pieces run the gamut of emotion and subject. Paula Gunn Allen's breathtaking poem "Some Like Indians Endure" touches upon the social oppressions that overlap lesbian and Indian identities, Maurice Kenny's "Contacts" humorously takes apart white appropriation of Native identity, and Deborah Miranda's rollicking "Coyote Takes a Trip" is a modern Coyote tale that puts the trickster's attraction to a two-spirited man in the historical context of two-spirited people. At turns angry and wounded, sexy and joyous, hopeful and wistful, this outstanding anthology belongs on the shelves of all readers interested in contemporary American Indian writing and American LGBTQ topics. (Nov.)