Starting with the premise that American Indians have been colonized, Horne outlines the dangers of colonial mimicry. She proposes a theory of subversive mimicry through which writers can use the language of the colonial power to subvert it and inscribe diverse First Nations voices. Drawing on select works by Thomas King, Beatrice Culleton, Ruby Slipperjack, Jeannette Armstrong, Lee Maracle, and Tomson Highway, the study also elucidates decolonizing strategies with which readers can collaborate.
Mary Oliver's Grass Roots Poetry examines the poetry and essays of Pulitzer Prize winner Mary Oliver. Her writing offers an environmental ethics that is relevant to readers interested not only in poetry but also environmental writing. She neither replicates hierarchical relationships nor romanticizes nature. In situating all as kin while also respecting differences, Oliver creates a grassroots poetics and an environmental ethics that invite readers to rethink our responsibilities and how we interact with others, human and nonhuman, animate and inanimate. Respectful coexistence with differences is necessary for the survival of all.