I carried a jar big and fragileglass in my handsasking strangersfor moneyalong the NooksackI was barefoot I was tenI was saving to buy a ponybecause the salmonberriesweren’t good enoughthe wool blankets weren’tgood enoughfor me to be a realIndianlike the ones in the moviesI was going to needto buy a ponyand paint itride off into war on itor become part of it likeThe Girl Who Loved Wild Horsesor whateverI wasn’t surewhat I would do with itjust that it wasn’ta canoeor a longhouseit was somethingliving somethingIndian
Pony
Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe
Feature Date
- May 27, 2023
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“Pony” from ROSE QUARTZ: by Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe.
Published by Milkweed Editions on March 14, 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe.
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission.
Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe is from the Upper Skagit and Nooksack Indian Tribes. Native to the Pacific Northwest she draws inspiration from her coastal heritage as well as her life in the city. She writes with a focus on trauma and resilience, on topics ranging from PTSD, sexual violence, the work her great grandmother did for the Lushootseed language revitalization, to loud basement punk shows and what it means to grow up mixed heritage. Sasha teaches creative writing at the Native Pathways Program at Evergreen and is a mentor for Seattle’s youth poet laureate program. Her memoir Red Paint has received starred reviews from Kirkus and Shelf Awareness and is available through Counterpoint Press. Her collection of poetry Rose Quartz is available through Milkweed Press..
“LaPointe conveys with dazzling intensity that while our healing is in our own hands, we need not be alone.”
—Elizabeth Hoover, Minneapolis Star Tribune
“LaPointe writes, drawing inspiration from her Coast Salish heritage and lingering in the liminal spaces between beauty and danger. The poems play with color imagery, act as rituals and incantations, and delve into the poet’s interiority in search of self-discovery and belonging.”
—Autostraddle
“Rose Quartz grapples with the deep wounds inside of us all through evershifting rose-colored glasses.”
—Em Win, Autostraddle
“From the author of Red Paint, LaPointe’s long-awaited debut poetry collection Rose Quartz pulls no punches. Accompanied by rustic and witchy atmospheres that ooze Pacific Northwest, LaPointe’s poems often center around the hardships she’s survived and growth she has accomplished in relationships, a miscarriage, and her Coast Salish identity. Gorgeous, vulnerable, and shimmering with strength.”
—Andrew King, Secret Garden, Seattle, WA
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