In the Presence of the Sun

Stories and Poems, 1961-1991

N. Scott Momaday

• Publisher: UNM Press
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780826348166
• eBook ISBN: 9780826348173
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: North American Literary Collections
• Index: Literature

In the Presence of the Sun presents 30 years of selected works by [N. Scott] Momaday, the well-known Southwest Native American novelist. His unadorned poetry, which recounts fables and rituals of the Kiowa nation, conveys the deep sense of place of the Native American oral tradition. Here are dream-songs about animals (bear, bison, terrapin) and life away from urban alienation, an imagined re-creation based on Billy the Kid, prose poems about Plains Shields (and a fascinating discussion of their background), and new poems that utilize primary colors ('forms of the earth') to express instinctive continuities of a pre-Columbian vision.--Library Journal

The strong, spare beauty of In the Presence of the Sun is compelling evidence that Scott Momaday is one of the most versatile and distinguished artists in America today.--Peter Matthiessen

. . . the images, the voices, the people are shadowy, elusive, burning with invention, like flames against a dark sky. For behind them is always the artist-author himself . . . a man with a sacred investiture. Strong medicine, strong art indeed.--The New York Times Book Review

SELECTED

POEMS

The Bear

What ruse of vision,

escarping the wall of leaves,

rending incision

into countless surfaces,

would cull and color

his somnolence, whose old age

has outworn valor,

all but the fact of courage?

Seen, he does not come,

move, but seems forever there,

dimensionless, dumb,

in the windless noon’s hot glare.

More scarred than others

these years since the trap maimed him,

pain slants his withers,

drawing up the crooked limb.

Then he is gone, whole,

without urgency, from sight,

as buzzards control,

imperceptibly, their flight.

Buteo Regalis

His frailty discrete, the rodent turns, looks.

What sense first warns? The winging is unheard,

Unseen but as distant motion made whole,

Singular, slow, unbroken in its glide.

It veers, and veering, tilts broad-surfaced wings.

Aligned, the span bends to begin the dive

And falls, alternately white and russet,

Angle and curve, gathering momentum.

Comparatives

Sunlit sea,

the drift of fronds,

and banners

of bobbing boats—

the seaside

of any day—

except: this

cold, bright body

of the fish

upon the planks,

the coil and

crescent of flesh

extending

just into death.

Even so,

in the distant,

inland sea,

a shadow runs,

radiant,

rude in the rock:

fossil fish,

fissure of bone

forever.

It is perhaps

the same thing,

an agony

twice perceived.

It is most like

wind on waves—

mere commotion,

mute and mean,

perceptible—

that is all.

Earth and I Gave You Turquoise

Earth and I gave you turquoise

when you walked singing

We lived laughing in my house

and told old stories

You grew ill when the owl cried

We will meet on Black Mountain

I will bring corn for planting

and we will make fire

Children will come to your breast

You will heal my heart

I speak your name many times

The wild cane remembers you

My young brother’s house is filled

I go there to sing

We have not spoken of you

but our songs are sad

When Moon Woman goes to you

I will follow her white way

Tonight they dance near Chinle

by the seven elms

There your loom whispered beauty

They will eat mutton

and drink coffee till morning

You and I will not be there

I saw a crow by Red Rock

standing on one leg

It was the black of your hair

The years are heavy

I will ride the swiftest horse

You will hear the drumming hooves.

Simile

What did we say to each other

that now we are as the deer

who walk in single file

with heads high

with ears forward

with eyes watchful

with hooves always placed on firm ground

in whose limbs there is latent flight

Plainvi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Selected Poems
• The Strange and True Story of My Life with Billy the Kid
• In the Presence of the Sun: A Gathering of Shields
• New Poems
• About the Author