32. Jennifer Elise Foerster — “Leaving Tulsa”
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Poet Jennifer Elise Foerster writes in her poem, “Leaving Tulsa,” about a warning from her grandmother:
When they see open land
they only know to take it.
Jennifer has German and Dutch heritage from her father’s side, and Mvskoke heritage from her mother’s side, which includes the grandmother she mentions in her poem.
When they see open land
they only know to take it.
It’s a chilling line that conjures the long history of European displacement of indigenous peoples and the theft of land that has continued for centuries.
In my conversation with Jennifer, she talks about amnesia and the collective act of forgetting our history. Her poetry is an act of remembering. Her memories reveal a dramatic transformation of the cultural relationship to the land that came with this displacement of Mvskoke people.
I’m John Fiege, and this is Chrysalis. You can subscribe at johnfiege.earth, where you will also find show notes and all episodes of the podcast, plus my writing, photographs, and films.
Jennifer Elise Foerster is the author of three books of poetry, The Maybe Bird (2022), Bright Raft in the Afterweather (2018), and Leaving Tulsa (2013). She is the recipient of an NEA Creative Writing Fellowship and a Lannan Foundation Writing Residency Fellowship. She was a Robert Frost Fellow in Poetry at the Breadloaf Writers Conference and a Wallace Stegner Fellow in Poetry at Stanford University. She currently teaches for several writing programs and serves as the literary assistant to Joy Harjo, the 23rd U.S. Poet Laureate. She lives in San Francisco and is a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma.
This episode of Chrysalis is part of the Chrysalis Poets series. I spoke with Jennifer on November 15, 2022.
Here is Jennifer Elise Foerster reading her poem, “Leaving Tulsa.”
Notes and Media Recommendations
- Jennifer Elise Foerster's Website:
- The Maybe-Bird by Jennifer Elise Foerster
- Bright Raft in the Afterweather by Jennifer Elise Foerster
- Leaving Tulsa by Jennifer Elise Foerster
- Jennider Elise Foerster on poets.org
- When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry, edited by Joy Harjo, with LeAnne Howe and Jennifer Elise Foerster
Credits
This episode was researched by Nina Bunn and edited by Sarah Westrich and Kathryn Fair. The podcast assistant is Domenica Klamm. Music is by Daniel Rodríguez Vivas. Mixing is by Morgan Honaker.