Celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Poetry That Reclaims the Story!!!

On the second Monday of October, we observe Indigenous Peoples' Day, a time to honor the histories, cultures, and enduring contributions of Indigenous communities across Turtle Island and beyond. For me, poetry is ceremony. It is a way of listening to land, lineage, and spirit. It holds story, sovereignty, and survival in every breath. Today, I invite you to read, write, and reflect with reverence for the voices that have always been here.


✍🏾 Poetry as Ancestral Witness
Indigenous poetry is rooted in place. It speaks with wind and water. It remembers names erased and songs reclaimed. It is resistance, resurgence, and radiant truth.

As poet Joy Harjo once said,

“Remember the earth whose skin you are.”

That’s the power of Indigenous poetry: it reminds us that we belong to something older, deeper, and still unfolding.

📚 Poets to Read & Remember

Here are just a few Indigenous poets whose work carries wisdom and fire:

Joy Harjo – Muscogee (Creek) Nation; first Native U.S. Poet Laureate, known for lyrical poems that honor land, memory, and spirit.

Layli Long Soldier – Oglala Lakota poet whose work confronts history and language with grace and precision.

Sherwin Bitsui – Diné (Navajo) poet blending landscape, myth, and fragmented memory.

Natalie Diaz – Mojave poet writing about love, water, and Indigenous futurism.

Tommy Pico – Kumeyaay poet whose work pulses with humor, pop culture, and decolonial joy.

📖 Explore more at the Native Poets section on Poets.org 

✨ Writing Prompt: Poetry & Place

Try this prompt to honor your connection to land and story:

Write a poem titled “The Land Remembers Me” that includes:
— a natural element (river, stone, tree, etc.)
— a word or phrase in an Indigenous language
— a moment of ancestral memory or resistance

Your words are part of the remembering. Let them rise.

Today, we honor not just history, but the living legacy of Indigenous peoples—their art, activism, kinship, and care. May we listen deeply, walk gently, and write with respect.

Your Pensive Poet,

SSS


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