I Lost My Talk

“Poem 6” by Rita Joe (1978)

In this poem from Joe’s first collection, an adult teacher asks the first-person speaker who she is, as classmates laugh at her. This poem, like “I Lost My Talk,” incorporates an educational environment, which provided abuse rather than solace during Joe’s formative years. However, both poems end on a positive note. Just as the speaker of “I Lost My Talk” extends her hand to make peace and reclaim power, this poem confirms the speaker’s confidence for future success, which turned out to be true for the poet: “And I will relate wonders to my people” (Line 12).

“Poem 14” by Rita Joe (1978)

This poem, also from the same collections as “Poem 6,” elevates the Indigenous culture that the speaker desperately wants to share with others in “I Lost My Talk.” She describes the land as well as the cycle of life; the poem ends by proclaiming that the life of her culture will carry on from generation to generation: “We are no more, / Except we leave / A heritage that never dies” (Lines 20-22).

“When Roots Are Exposed” by Esther Belin (1999)

This poem by Navajo writer Esther Belin is interested in the relationship between written and spoken traditions.