Failure of Certain Charms

Gordon Henry is an enrolled member of the White Earth Chippewa Tribe of Minnesota. His first novel The Light People won an American Book Award and his work has appeared in numerous journal and anthologies throughout the U.S. and Europe. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at Michigan State University.

• AcknowledgementsBESHIG: THE FAILURE OF CERTAIN CHARMSCalendar of Wasted SeasonsSleeping In RainWaking on a Greyhound Going WestOutside White EarthShell LakeWhite Earth August AgainLeaving Smoke’sAt Once You Recall the Thunder SongBeyond the Refuge When Names Escaped UsThe Failure of Certain CharmsNEESH: HOW SOON THE STORY GOESCalendar of a Wasted LifeEntries Into the Autobiographical IThe First Door: I As Not IThe Second Door: I as Traveler IThird Door: I As Alter I – AnAutobiographical Meta-Tale on WritingFourth Door: I As Still Open I, from SpainThe Saxophonist’s Meta-Americana TourOctober NamingRiver People – The Lost WatchInsulin Syringe Blues in the Key of Turtle MountainThe Rumors Around Us A Medicine SongJazz Tune for a Hiawatha WomanOctober Minnehaha AvenuePostmodern Rez Edge Inhalation: Paint Thinner SublimeHow SoonNISSWAY: DIRECTIONS FROM THE SOVEREIGN OF ENTELECHYCalendar of Wasted SeasonsGaween – Self Portrait:Letter to the Agency Superintendent:November Becomes the SkyWith Suppers for the DeadUntitled Crow AbstractWindows Against the RainLetter to the School Superintendent:Primitive Epidermal SongImperial Lord WoosintoonAbstract on Imperialist CartographicsSong for the One Called EnemyLost Hunter – Under Hidden ConstellationsAnother Academic’s Last Hope for Coyote MonologueSimple Four Part Directions for Making Indian LitRepeat Smoke Smudge Rinse RepeatHope Returns a Lost WhistleDirections to the Sovereign of EntelechyNEEWIN: AFTER ZAHQUODCalendar of Wasted SeasonsAhwosso – PastSong for a SisterWho Won’t Let GoGuessing at the Weight of SpiritProfile of a Black River MemberRemembering Shadow:In the Art of Not CryingRez Edged Suicide MuseOshawanung Manido EquayWhite Cloud Woman through a Southern WindowSonny’s Wake 2000White Cloud Woman at DawnDodem Dream SongRecount to a Black River ElderPipestone: The Best Conversations That Never Took PlaceBefore the Thirsty DanceA Black River Elder Pretends Traveling Among StrangersZahquod’s LandBlue Thunder Boy Healing Song