Page 56 - 2021-bfw-aufses-alr-1e

some white god came floating across the ocean?
5
Truth is, there may be angels, but if there are angels 20
up there, living on clouds or sitting on thrones across the sea wearing
velvet robes and golden rings, drinking whiskey from silver cups,
we’re better off if they stay rich and fat and ugly and
‘xactly where they are — in their own distant heavens.
You better hope you never see angels on the rez. If you do, they’ll be marching you off to 25
Zion or Oklahoma, or some other hell they’ve mapped out for us.
Redefining America
2012

Understanding and Interpreting

1. “Abecedarian Requiring Further Examination of Anglikan Seraphym Subjugation of a Wild
Indian Rezervation” opens with the statement that “Angels don’t come to the reservation.”
What do angels represent for the speaker of this poem? How does Natalie Diaz develop and
transform the concept of angels as the poem unfolds?
2. What or who does the poem suggest is “Requiring Further Examination,” as stated in the
title? What issues does the poem suggest need to be probed more in more depth?
3. Diaz invents spelling in her title — Anglikan, Seraphym, Rezervation — but the spelling in the
poem itself is conventional. Why do you think the words in the title have alternative spellings?
What statement might Diaz be making with that choice?
4. Why does the speaker tell the reader to “Quit bothering with angels” (l. 17)? How does she
defend that statement? What does she mean by “last time / some white god came floating
across the ocean” (ll. 18–19)?
5. In Christian tradition, one of the most important of the Seraphim is the angel Gabriel. The
speaker claims she’s never heard of him. What does the substitute — “Gabe” — say about the
speaker’s view of European customs and their place in American Indian cultures?

Analyzing Language, Style, and Structure

1. Vocabulary in Context. What does the word “powwow” (l. 8) mean? How does the meaning
lend itself to its use here?
2. Why do you think Diaz chose the abecedarian form for her poem? How is it suited to a poem
that comments on “subjugation”?
3. How would you characterize the tone of this poem? Try to describe it in two or three words.
How does this tone create a picture of the speaker?
4. In line 20, the speaker admits “there may be angels,” before ending with line with “but if there
are angels.” How does that turn change the dynamic of the poem?
5. Natalie Diaz played international professional basketball. She said this about her transition
from athlete to poet: “In my life, just about everything I did had the pace of a basketball
game. Sometimes fast, sometimes less fast. I understood momentum. I learned that not
everything has to be one speed. I had to learn to interpret poetry’s momentum and rhythm,
had to learn how to move in it.” How would you describe the momentum and rhythm of
“Abecedarian Requiring Further Examination of Anglikan Seraphym Subjugation of a Wild
Indian Rezervation”? How does Diaz “move in it”?

36
Copyright © 2021 by Bedford, Freeman & Worth High School Publishers. Uncorrected proofs have been used in this sample chapter.
Distributed by by Bedford, Freeman & Worth High School Publishers. Strictly for use with its products. Not for redistribution.

AufsesALR1e_24889_ch05_002_097.indd 36 5/4/2020 3:57:55 PM