This Music

Janice Gould was Koyoonk'auwi (Concow). She published four books of poetry and has been anthologized widely. Her scholarly work includes personal essays and an edited book on contemporary American Indian poetry.Jennifer Elise Foerster, author of three books of poetry, teaches at the Rainier Writing Workshop and the Institute of American Indian Arts. A Mvskoke citizen, she lives in San Francisco.Deborah A. Miranda (Ohlone-Costanoan Esselen Nation/Santa Ynez Chumash ancestry), author of Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir and four poetry collections, is currently finishing an essay collection about the Rumsen elder Isabel Meadows.Kim Shuck is the seventh poet laureate emerita of San Francisco and a visual artist. She is solo author of nine books and chapbooks and is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Her most recent book is Pick a Garnet to Sleep In.Lisa Tatonetti is a Coffman University Distinguished Teaching Scholar at Kansas State University and co-founder of the Kansas Land Treaties Project. Her most recent book is Written by the Body:Gender Expansiveness and Indigenous Non-cis Masculinities.Marie-Elise Wheatwind has published poetry, interviews, articles, and flash prose in journals, magazines, and periodicals. She has been awarded a PEN Syndicated Fiction prize and Oregon Literary Arts Fiction Fellowship. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

"This Music is a heartfelt story of genderfluidity, lesbian concerns, and the American West, told through the eyes of a mixed blood Urban Indian coming-of-age in a California of old."—Deborah Taffa, author of Whiskey Tender: A Memoir "Janice Gould's This Music offers an intimate portrait of growing up in California, becoming a poet and musician, and making meaning in the world."—Julie R. Enszer, editor and publisher of Sinister Wisdom"This magnificent memoir, long overdue, will not only keep Janice Gould's remarkable poetry alive, but the heartfelt and heart-seeing life of the poet herself. Thank you, Janice for leaving us the gifts."—Greg Sarris, Chairman of The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria and author of the forthcoming novel, The Last Human Bear"What a rich, compelling memoir Janice Gould has left us. It brings my friend back to me like a song, and it will introduce new readers to a brave woman who was also a superb poet and musician. This is a life steeped in the American West, from her Maidu heritage to her many jobs, her journeys, her loves. The spare eloquence of her prose, its sensory details laid in with painterly care, together with her colorful life, make This Music a book I will never forget, just as I will never forget Janice's beautiful way of listening to the world."—David Mason, Colorado poet laureate 2010-14, and author of Cold Fire"In this beautifully constructed memoir each section moves the story of Janice's life forward with the lyrical intensity of a prose poem. Although I loved her as a poet and musician for the last four decades of her life, I will treasure the ways in which her Maidu heritage and deep love of the American West shine through this new book."— Judith Barrington, author of Virginia's Apple: Collected Memoirs"This Music is a cartography of desire; of the roads ventured by a young queer mixed-blood 'Indian' girl, making a world for herself where none before existed. Here, the lover of women and song comes of age and ages into a free life never promised. It is a poetic portrait of place, crafted by its time and Gould writes in a register that gives it voice, movement and visionary insight."—Cherríe Moraga, author of Native Country of the Heart"Reading this book is a bit like being on a road trip through Janice's life. She drives us all over California. She takes us to Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington. We even sail to Tomales Bay and hitchhike to Connecticut. But this is a book of journeys both outward and inward. Janice is the one person I've known whose brilliance was matched by their humility. Both emerge in this wonderful book, itself a magical mode of music."—Dean Rader, co-editor with Janice Gould of Speak To Me Words: Essays on Contemporary American Indian Poetry"This Music is a notable autobiographical prose/poem account of the life of Janice Gould, a lesbian Concow Maidu famed for her poetry and participation in Indigenous and Queer/Women of Color publications of the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. It covers the memories and milestones of Gould's life, including: stories of her Concow Maidu grandmother and mother; her own birth and childhood; gender and sexuality as a young and adult butch lesbian daughter of a transgender woman father; life with different girlfriends; education and poetry; musical performances; working-class and writing jobs; travel and life in San Diego, Berkeley, Denver, Portland, and Tucson; the passing of parents, and a final contemplation on nature. It is a well-rounded account of a life re-edited after the passing of its author Janice Gould by experts in Women's Literature and Native American Literature. This book should be essential reading for it's combination of Native Californian, lesbian, poetic prose, and photographic insights."—Gabriel Estrada, author of Queer Indigenous Cinemas: Sovereign Genders from Seven Directions