Tiffany Midge

The Dreamcatcher in the Wry, Tiffany Midge’s bitingly hilarious collection of essays written during the COVID-19 pandemic, builds on the critical acclaim of her earlier book Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s. A Standing Rock Sioux citizen, Midge offers up her unique satire about the foibles of politics, consumerism, world affairs, pandemic anxieties, and other subjects from the pandemic years of 2020 through 2023. The Dreamcatcher in the Wry brims with insight, considering pig heart transplants, wedding-crashing grizzly bears, truffle-snuffling dogs, bison-petting tourists-and a plethora of other animal and wildlife hijinks-not to mention wienermobiles, the controversial Mount Rushmore, meeting Iron Eyes Cody in a parade, Elizabeth Warren’s quaint family lore, and Buffy Sainte-Marie. Midge brilliantly unpacks her observations and day-to-day concerns through the lens of an urban-raised Lakota living in the West, a writer of poetry, op-eds, church bulletins, fridge magnets, and Twitter posts who is allergic to horses and most outdoor recreation-except for berry picking and the occasional romp through a dewy meadow. Turning over the colonizer’s society and culture for some good old Native American roasting, Midge informs as she entertains, gleaning wisdom from the incongruities of daily life with a much-needed dose of Indigenous common sense.

Winner of the Two Sylvias Press Wilder Poetry Book Prize. Tiffany Midge's Horns is a comedic romp and a razor-edged burlesque, with seriousness in its bones. Midge's cast of characters, drawn from pop culture, history, and literature in equal measure, is epic, from the Maiden on the Land O'Lakes Butter Box to Martha Stewart to Corpse Bride, the Girl Scouts of America to Satan himself. Her structures are as abundant as her performers. There are lists, outlines, contemporary ghazals and sonnets, interviews, statistical round-ups, and marriage vows. There's nuance, too, and spot-on moments of lyricism: "Her dresses, hung in the closet like sides of beef," she writes in one poem. And at the end of "Matrimonial Vows for Cannibals: " "I will savor your brain for last, that soft, sweet rind, / your edible, desirable, loveable mind." True to its title, Horns is sharp, dangerous, and melodic, a collection that resonates with joyous critique.-Diane Seuss, author of frank: sonnets

This collection of opinion editorials and recent essays solidifies Midge's standing as one of the most versatile talents in Native and American writing today.-Samantha Majhor, American Indian Culture and Research JournalBury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s is a powerful and compelling collection of Tiffany Midge’s musings on life, politics, and identity as a Native woman in America. Artfully blending sly humor, social commentary, and meditations on love and loss, Midge weaves short, standalone musings into a memoir that stares down colonialism while chastising hipsters for abusing pumpkin spice. She explains why she doesn’t like pussy hats, mercilessly dismantles pretendians, and confesses her own struggles with white-bread privilege. Midge ponders Standing Rock, feminism, and a tweeting president, all while exploring her own complex identity and the loss of her mother. Employing humor as an act of resistance, these slices of life and matchless takes on urban-indigenous identity disrupt the colonial narrative and provide commentary on popular culture, media, feminism, and the complications of identity, race, and politics.

This collection of opinion editorials and recent essays solidifies Midge's standing as one of the most versatile talents in Native and American writing today.-Samantha Majhor, American Indian Culture and Research JournalBury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s is a powerful and compelling collection of Tiffany Midge’s musings on life, politics, and identity as a Native woman in America. Artfully blending sly humor, social commentary, and meditations on love and loss, Midge weaves short, standalone musings into a memoir that stares down colonialism while chastising hipsters for abusing pumpkin spice. She explains why she doesn’t like pussy hats, mercilessly dismantles pretendians, and confesses her own struggles with white-bread privilege. Midge ponders Standing Rock, feminism, and a tweeting president, all while exploring her own complex identity and the loss of her mother. Employing humor as an act of resistance, these slices of life and matchless takes on urban-indigenous identity disrupt the colonial narrative and provide commentary on popular culture, media, feminism, and the complications of identity, race, and politics.

Winner of the Kenyon Review Earthworks Prize for Indigenous Poetry, Midge deftly weaves Plains Indian myths into the present day and seeks to define love, the nature of desire, and identity in the twenty-first century. The book includes a series of poems, each titled “Considering Wakatanka,” that weave together the themes throughout the book. The Woman Who Married a Bear showcases the wholly individual voice of a talented poet.