Native American Literature Anthology 2.0
Sara Downs
Linda Hogan
Linda Hogan's writing is deeply influenced by her roots in Oklahoma. Her father is Chickasaw and her mother is European American. She has published several books that vary from poetry, to novels, to essays.
1
The Truth Is
In my left pocket a Chickasaw hand
rests on the bone of the pelvis.
In my right pocket
a white hand. Don't worry. It's mine
and not some thief's.
It belongs to a woman who sleeps in a twin bed
even though she falls in love too easily,
and walks along with hands
in her own empty pockets
even though she has put them in others
for love not money.
About the hands, I'd like to say
I am a tree, grafted branches
bearing two kinds of fruit,
apricots maybe and pit cherries.
It's not that way. The truth is
we are crowded together
and knock against each other at night.
We want amnesty.
Linda, girl, I keep telling you
this is nonsense
about who loved who
and who killed who.
Here I am, taped together
like some old civilian conservation corps
passed by from the great depression
and my pockets are empty.
It's just as well since they are masks
for the soul, and since coins and keys
boh have the sharp teeth of property.
Girl, I say,
it is dangerous to be a woman of two countries.
You've got your hands in the dark
of two empty pockets. Even though
you walk and whistle like you aren't afraid
you know which pocket the enemy lives in
and you remember how to fight
so you better keep right on walking.
And you remember who killed who.
For this you want amnesty
and there's that knocking on the door
in the middle of the night.
Relax, there are other things to think about.
Shoes, for instance.
Now those are the true masks of the soul.
The left shoe
and the right one with it's white foot.
In Linda Hogan's "The Truth Is" she portrays her intimate struggle with being mixed races. She uses the imagery of two different colored hands to illustrate her two sides. One hand is "Chickasaw" and dark, the other is "white" signifying her European heritage. They both belong to her, both ethnicities are apart of her. She tires to explain that both sides bear fruit. That she is proud of who she is despite the opposition. However, she goes on to say that the truth is that both sides clash. Try as hard as she might to love all of her, she is still at war with herself. On one hand she's Native American, the other she is white. The sides want amnesty; they want to be seperate - soveriegn. She wishes she were either one of the other, not both. The third stanza she's trying to calm herself. It's not about choosing sides, it's about loving all of who she is. However, it's hard for her to do because one side was brutally violent to the other. Yet both of these sides exist in her.
She's been pieced together by these contradicting identies. Her soul is still empty because she still hasn't come to terms with who she is. Her pockets have coins and keys inside, each symbolizing the identities fighting for attention. Both are property of her, just like her white and Indian heritage. Both are fighting to be recognized. Both want to be accepted. It's dangerous to be a woman of two countries because it's easy to lose her identity. She could lost in either and not maintain a balance of both. She's scared of losing herself to one side and neglecting the other. At the same time she knows what the white man did to the Indians. She knows part of that history is inside her. The violence, biggotry, and fear are all apart of her ancestor's past. However, the victims are also apart of her. She knows what one of her sides did to the other. She wants to sympathize with her Indian hertiage, but also wants to affiliate with her white heritage. In doing so she feels she's betraying her Native American side. Because of the violence committed by the white man, her Indian side wants amnesty and it keeps her up at night.
In the final stanza, Hogan tries to take her mind off of her identity crisis. She tells herself to focus on her shoes. There's plenty to think about with shoes, for they are the true masks of the soul. Depending on the shoe, a person can't see through to the skin. It masks the identity inside. Despite her attempts to get over her identity crisis, it will always be there in the back of her mind. She tried to get over it, but by using the shoes and her feet as another illustration of her internal conflict, she shows the reader that she might not ever be at peace. She will always be thinking about both sides of her heritage.
I really liked how Linda Hogan illustarted her idetitiy crisis. She did so in a way that anyone could understand if they read this poem. I also think this poem speaks to most mixed race people. Though I'm not biracial in Hogan's sense, I was able to grasp her struggle. I was able to get inside her head and see why she would be so conflicted by her background. I think a lot of different people could benefit from reading this poem.