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In the imperfect prefecture
of stone and sky
the sauna breath of August
simmers commonplace dogs.
They circle paths through the sun
softened asphalt of Sioux
Nation Shopping Center
where stretched out in the shade
of the loading dock
winos bask and bake
in the luxuriant miasma
of slow death
and the only thing
separating me from them
is my growing need for you
and the fear that I might die unloved.
—“In the Ghetto on the Prairie
There is Unrequited Love”
This book was written on the Oglala Sioux reservation and reflects Louis’ experience living among the Lakota people.
As the title suggests, Louis was a controversial guest. But journalist Tim Giago understood fully what Louis attempted to communicate in these poems: “In writing about the bitter realities he has lived, perhaps he will exorcise the demons that have torn at his soul and without looking back move on to the next plateau of his life.”
In this sense, Louis’ Pine Ridge poems capture his own experience as well as that of his hosts.
Do not crack the pages of Among the Dog Eaters unless you are ready for the terrible truth of what it means to be Indian in the twentieth century. Adrian Louis is a tough, authentic American voice that will both disturb you and make you want to dance another round in the heart of Indian country.
— Joy Harjo
Adrian C. Louis, a member of the Paiute tribe, is a former journalist. He has edited tribal newspapers and taught on and off the reservation.
Author of several books of poems, his 1989 collection, Fire Water World, published by West End Press, won the San Francisco State Poetry Center book award.