Rez Void, by Jake Arrowtop

Poetry, chapbook, 28 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

Rez Void is a collection of poems intended to be as “unsacred” as possible. My interest lies in the seedy and dark experiences that come with growing up on an Indian reservation. Many of the themes are universal but they are informed completely by the unique, complicated, and sometimes messy experience of growing up as Amskapi-Pikuni in northern Montana.

In keeping with these unromantic notions of Indigeneity, the poems thematically deal with rugged and rough realities while also taking petty potshots at common modes of “Indigenous” expression. My aim is to shirk any notions of “resilient healing” as a poetic trope that can be found in many examples of Indigenous writing.

Instead, you’ll find the musings of a cranky NDN man trying his damndest to be the crabbiest crab in the bucket. With that said, life can be full of wonder and there are pockets of celebration to be found in the collection, based mostly in community, relationships, and the inescapable beauty of fatherhood

Jake Arrowtop is Amskapi-Pikuni from Heart Butte, Montana. Jake grew up on the Blackfeet reservation where he currently teaches ELA at an alternative school. He earned a degree in Creative Writing at the University of Montana where he was named a James Welch Scholar. His fiction has appeared in Hemingway Shorts and Scribble Magazine and he strives to write culturally relevant poetry and prose that reflects his heritage and the unique experience of growing up Indigenous. Jake enjoys hunting, fishing and hanging out with his partner and new baby.