The Morning You Saw a Train of Stars Streaking Across the Sky

2022 Rattle Chapbook Prize Winner

If history leaves an impression, then to be born in an Indigenous nation is to figure out how the residual effects are at play today while simultaneously seeing how your hand fits into the “impression.” CooXooEii Black has begun to think of history as being “nested.” His history, his tribe’s history, and his family’s history are all nested into one, all becoming my personal history. Dr. Emily Skaja’s nested poem project laid the foundation for this chapbook. She asked CooXooEii to peel back the veil from his obsessions and name them—she challenged him to see how his poems fit together like a Russian nesting doll. He grew up with six uncles who took on the role of father figures; you’d think their life stories are tales of legend. So he took all six of his uncles and “nested” them into one character. What ensued were poems that straddle the intersection of truth and myth-making. This collection is about childhood and maturation; about the reservation and land; about an uncle who becomes a teacher; about wrestling with identity and faith; about impressions.