Native American Poetry Night

A trio of notable Native American poets with upper Midwest roots will read and discuss their work at the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian’s first “Native American Poetry Night.”

Kimberly Blaeser, Mark LaRoque, and Thirza Defoe will take part in the Mitchell’s observance of National Poetry Month.

Blaeser, a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, grew up on the White Earth Nation Reservation in northern Minnesota. A professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she worked as a journalist before earning a doctorate from the University of Notre Dame.   

LaRoque (Ojibwe), a Chicago-based writer who grew up on a Minnesota reservation, counts among his mentors the late, celebrated Chippewa poet and playwright E. Donald Two-Rivers.  

The multi-talented Defoe (Ojibwe and Oneida) is a Milwaukee-based writer, singer, instrumentalist, and Native hoop dancer, as well as a stage, film, and voice-over performer.