Talking Gourds: “Stories & Poems,” Two Poets from Navajo Nation to Read, 7/17!

13 Jul Talking Gourds: “Stories & Poems,” Two Poets from Navajo Nation to Read, 7/17!

The Lone Cone Library teamed up with the Talking Gourds Poetry Project to host a “Stories & Poems” performance series the third Wednesday of each month. The July 17th edition of Stories & Poems series features Tina Deschenie and Michael Thompson of the Navajo Nation performing their work.

A collaboration of the Lone Cone Library and the Telluride Institute’s Talking Gourds,  Stories & Poems is free and open to all ages, thanks to the generosity of the library, private donors and Talking Gourds’ Fischer & Cantor poetry contests.

For more information, text 970-729-0220 or email Goodtimes at art@tellurideinstitute.org or visit the Talking Gourds website: www.tellurideinstitute.org/talking-gourds

Go here for more on Talking Gourds.

“July 2024 marks the first complete year of Stories & Poems providing a platform for storytellers and poets at the library in Norwood,” said Talking Gourd director Art Goodtimes. “We are delighted to have two Indigenous poets to mark this anniversary.”

Image, courtesy, Deschenie Gallery.

Tina Deschenie earned a B.A. at Ft. Lewis College, an M.A. at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, and a Doctorate in Education at New Mexico State University focusing on Educational Leadership. She has served as Head Administrator at the Diné Charter School, Provost and Associate Dean at the Navajo Technical University, Editor of the Tribal College Journal, and freelance writer.

Tina’s work has appeared in Poetry magazine and The Diné Reader: An Anthology of Navajo Literature edited by Esther Belin, et. al. (Univ. of Arizona Press, 2021) – winner of the 2022 Before Columbus Foundation American Book Award. Her important essay, “Why We Are Sticking to Our Stories” appears in the online Tribal College Journal https://tribalcollegejournal.org/sticking-stories/?

Tina’s Diné clans are Ta’neeszahnii, Tó’aheedlíini, and Bit’ahnii. She grew up in the Navajo Nation and still resides there.

Mike & Tina, courtesy, Talking Gourds.

Both Tina and Michael appeared in a visual art/poetry Ah Haa show in Telluride earlier this year and in several recent collections out of Cortez edited by the late Sonja Horoshko — Wet: An Anthology of Water Poems and Prose From the High Desert and Mountains of the Four Corners Region (2021) and Fertile: An Anthology of Earth Poems and Prose From the High Desert and Mountains of the Four Corners Region, (2023).

Image, courtesy Talking Gourds.

Michael Thompson (Mvskoke Creek) was born in Holdenville, OK, and raised on a south Georgia cattle ranch and row crop farm near the Flint River among pine trees, oaks, creeks, and swamp. He taught for 42 years at various levels of education in Georgia, Kansas, California, and New Mexico. For most of his life, Mike was a high school English teacher.

Currently Mike and his wife Tina Deschenie (Diné) are restoring her family homesite and raising cattle on the Navajo Nation in Crystal, NM. They have four children and several grandchildren. Their family supports numerous Native American activities, traditions, and causes.

Mike’s work has been published in various journals, including: Satchel: Story Objects (Art Juice Studio Press, 2022); Transforming Diné Education, (Univ. of Arizona Press, 2022); The Diné Reader: An Anthology of Navajo Literature, (Univ. of Arizona Press, 2021); Trickster (a graphic anthology); “Rabbit and the Tug of War” (Fulcrum Books, 2010), and American Indians and the Urban Experience (AltaMira Press, 2001).

With the Gourd’s new dual format, each featured guest will give a 15-20 minute presentation, followed by a short question and answer period. Then there’s a passing of the gourd which encourages community members to share stories or poems.