Running on the Edge of the Rainbow: Laguna Stories and Poems
with
Leslie Marmon Silko

Transcript Notes

— "Storytelling" is published in Leslie Marmon Silko, Storyteller (NY: Seaver Books, 1981), p. 94.

— The two women with Silko on the porch of her house are Joy Harjo, poet and author of Last Song (Las Cruces, N.M.: Puerto del Sol, 1977), and Sandy Johnson, a Laguna woman from Paguate village, Harjo's daughter Rainy Dawn also appears in some of the porch scenes.

— "Laughing and Laughing About Something that Happened at Mesita" has not been published in this form. See Storyteller, pp. 89-93 for another version.

— Elsie Clews Parsons' work at Laguna may be seen in a book edited by her mentor Franz Boas in Keresan Texts and in her collection "Laguna Tales." See Related Readings.

— BAE refers to the publications of the Bureau of American Ethnology, one of the major series in which Boas and his disciples published their work on American Indian story and song.

— Caz is Silko's youngest son Cazimir.

— "Toe'osh: A Laguna Coyote Story" is published in Storyteller, p. 236. It is dedicated to Acoma poet Simon J. Ortiz, author of Going for the Rain (Harper and Row, 1977), Howbah Indians (Blue Moon Press, 1977), and The Good Journey (Turtle Island, 1977)
.
— The conference Silko refers to was "the National Center for Audio Experimentation Writers' Workshop." It was held at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point. Selections from poets at the conference were published in The Greenfield Review, 3 (1973).

— "Indian Song: Survival" is published in Storyteller, p. 35

Return to the contents page for
Running on the Edge of the Rainbow: Laguna Stories and Poems

By This Song I Walk: Navajo Songs | Seyewailo: The Flower World Yaqui Deer Songs | The Origin of the Crown Dance: An Apache Narrative and Ba'ts'oosee: An Apache Trickster Cycle | Iisaw: Hopi Coyote Stories | Natwaniwa: A Hopi Philosophical Statement | Running on the Edge of the Rainbow: Laguna Stories and Poems | Songs of My Hunter Heart: Laguna Songs and Poems | A Conversation with Vine Deloria, Jr. | Home