Skins and Bones

Poems 1979-1987

Paula Gunn Allen

Arguably Allen’s best single poetry volume, this collection contains memorable evocations of such figures as La Malinche, Pocohontas, Sacagawea, and Molly Brant. Tongue-in-cheek and deadly serious, Allen redefines the Native tradition in her poetry.

I saw you well. I
understood your ploys and still
protected you, going so far as to die
in your keeping—a wasting,
putrefying Christian death—and you,
deceiver, whiteman, father of my son,
survived, reaping wealth greater
than any you had ever dreamed
from what I taught you and
from the wasting of my bones.

             —from “Pocahontas to Her English Husband, John Rolfe 

5½ x 8½ inches • 69 pages • ISBN 0-931122-50-3 • $8.95