“I am the child and grandchild of poor Indians, and since none of them ever put pen to paper, it never occurred to me I could try to be a poet”.
Corliss knows that Spokane Indians are not poets. If they try, they can become blue-collar workers, but that is the limit. The young woman hates this situation; she refuses to follow that well-trodden path to nowhere. The day she finds Harlan Atwater’s book is a special one, for this is the sign that her family is wrong about her and Spokanes’ chances of success. Here is a Spokane poet, “the child and grandchild of poor Indians.” It “never occurred” to him that he could try “to be a poet,” but he managed. Corliss needs this example to stay strong and pursue her dream. If he did so, she will do so too.
“I am a sentimental soldier”.
Corliss likes pretending that she is tough, not afraid of anything. This girl knows how to fight for her rights and get what she wants. Unlike her relatives, she won’t settle for little. But even such a straightforward person like Corliss has a secret that she hides. The truth is that she is not an ice queen, she is “a sentimental soldier.” That is why she doesn’t only notice a homeless person; she befriends him, “no matter how crazy he might be.” She is “romantic,” but “somebody is supposed to be romantic” and kind-hearted to make this world a better place.
“I started writing poems to feel like I belonged”.
Harlan is “afraid of writing poems.” “No matter” what he writes, “a bunch of other Indians will hate it” because his work “isn’t Indian enough.” Some “white people,” on the other hand, “will like it because it’s Indian.” When he writes poems, he feels “trapped,” but continues to do so “to feel like” he belongs. He likes imagining what it feels like to grow up on the reservation, “to grow up like an Indian is supposed to grow up.” He is not supposed to do it, but he does it to find his lost and forgotten roots.
