My Cheii’s (grandpa’s) truck coming up the dirt road. A big old cloud of dust behind him. My Cheii’s (grandpa’s) truck, A BIG RED TRUCK! BIG knobby tires, BIG white mirrors, With a flat bed and stack rack. Grumble, …
A Pulitzer Prize finalist, New York Times bestselling author, and tribal college graduate, Tommy Orange presents his top picks from the 2020 creative writing contest.
“Grandfather would step outside and look up at the pure blue sky, the wrinkles on his face deepening, mimicking the dry cracked earth as he searched for the clouds.”
“When it comes time for you to part ways, you ask if she’ll be alright. Her hollow smile betrays the doubt before she even speaks.”
“Within this cage, the killing of her spirit was daily from being forced to speak a language that was not her own and to learn of a culture she was not born into.”
“In languages, we encapsulate the individual and communal mental and spiritual contemplative efforts of a people—each unique.”
“The Warriors versus the Cowgirls, too fantastic to be made up, and the mascots couldn’t be more fitting.”
“beneath umbrellas of drooping purple petals, sticks with triangular heads hold curved handles, thin membranes stretch for tiny legs to back—stroke . . .”
