Anthropocene: A Dictionary

^{definitions provided by the Navajo–English Dictionary by Leon Wall & William Morgan}

dibé bighan: sheep corral 

juniper beams caught charcoal in the late summer morning
night still pooled in hoof prints; deer panicked run from water 

ooljéé’ biná’adinídíín: moonlight

perched above the town drowned in orange and streetlamp
the road back home dips with the earth
                                                                    shines black in the sirens 

bit’a’ :  its sails or—its wing (s)

           driving through the mountain pass
                       dólii, mountain bluebird, swings out—
           from swollen branches
I never see those anymore, someone says 

diyóół        : wind (

                         wind (more of it) more wind as in (to come up)
                         plastic bags driftwood the fence line 

nihootsoii 

            :             evening—somewhere northward fire 
                                       twists around the shrublands; 
                               sky dipped in smoke—twilight 

        —there is a word for this, 
                                                    someone says 

                                        :           deidííłid, they burned it  
    
                                        :           kódeiilyaa, we did this

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Poetry & Environmental Justice

The Poetry Coalition, an alliance of more than 25 independent poetry organizations across the United States, is addressing Environmental Justice in a series of nationwide programs beginning this month through June. We will be dedicating Saturdays in March to poems that explore the theme of Poetry & Environmental Justice. This special series will be curated by Linda Hogan, whose poem “Map” was used as inspiration for this year’s theme. The Poetry Coalition and its programmatic efforts are supported by a major grant to the Academy of American Poets from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

“This poem is a look into anthropology. I consider the Navajo-English Dictionary, referenced in this poem, an anthropological text more than a linguistic one. Of course, it was created in the hopes of teaching Diné speakers English and non-Diné speakers Diné as a kind of window. Today, Diné people use books like this to relearn a language stolen from them, myself included. So, I thought I’d offer this window again, as an anthropological act, to show us what is happening.”
—Jake Skeets