Culture, tradition are key for 'fearless' local poet

Artist Leah Carpenter-Kish draws on American Indian practices and beliefs for inspiration in work and life

by NANCY SEPULVEDA

Solitude and sweat keep Leah Carpenter-Kish grounded.

The University of New Mexico graduate student, a regular in the local spoken-word poetry scene, credits traditional American Indian spiritual and healing techniques with getting her through difficult times.

She practices one method, known as a sweat lodge, several times a semester.

“A sweat is a means of ceremonial healing that involves surrounding yourself in steam and herbs,” Carpenter-Kish said. “White people make an analogy between it and a sauna, but it’s way more intense than that.”

Her commitment to preserving American Indian traditions is a cornerstone of her academic, social and community involvements. Her style and personality, dubbed “bold, fearless and vocal,” by friends, lend themselves well to her personal mission of advancing the causes of American Indian women.

“There comes a point where we each must face our responsibility to the community we come from,” said Carpenter-Kish, who is of Navajo ancestry. “Some shy away from that responsibility. I embrace it.”

Carpenter-Kish, 24, grew up in the Four Corners region, traveling back and forth between Durango, Colo. and Fruitland, N.M. Summers were spent harvesting herbs and plants on the Laguna Pueblo with her family.

“We make a bittersweet mush out of the Chiithchiin Berry, or the Three-Leaf Sumac, in English,” Carpenter-Kish said. “Now, I can go find it in the Sandia [Mountains], but it’s not the same experience.”

Along with memories of happy times and familial ties, Carpenter-Kish remembers an atmosphere in her community of oppression and silence toward certain topics.

“Sexuality, violence against women, alcoholism, colonialism. They were all taboo subjects, despite their prevalence in our community,” she said. “At one point I myself was a serious drug user and alcohol abuser.”

Unable to vocalize her experiences and emotions, as a teenager Carpenter-Kish began pouring her observations into poems.

Without a willing audience at home, her poetry remained mere introspection until she attended Fort Lewis College in Colorado. While earning her Bachelor’s degree in Humanities and Southwest Studies, Carpenter-Kish shared her poetry with friends, gaining confidence with each positive reception.

Yet Carpenter-Kish did not become an active spoken-word performer until she came to Albuquerque to pursue a Master’s degree in American Studies at UNM.

“I started going to open-mic events, and would be invited to return for scheduled performances,” Carpenter-Kish said. “It didn’t take long for me to establish a name for myself.”

UNM student Christina Reynoso remembers the first time she heard Carpenter-Kish recite a poem.

“It was just raw, and real,” Reynoso said. “She touched on some powerful subjects and wasn’t afraid to tell it like it is.”

That poem, ‘Filthy Cockroaches,’ was about the lasting effects of colonialism on the Native community.

Carpenter-Kish was quick to slam the slam-poetry scene, in which poems are judged and scored in a competition between the poets.

“Slam is monopolized by a certain few individuals, which silences a large part of the community,” Carpenter-Kish said. “Poets can contribute much more to educating and raising awareness of issues when the message they bring, not the politics of competition, is the focus.”

Carpenter-Kish has performed at the annual Gathering of Nations Pow Wow, and was the opening act for singing trio Ulali, whose songs embrace traditional American Indian rhythms and cadences.

“Finding out I would open for Ulali was a bigger deal than getting into graduate school,” said Carpenter-Kish, who participated in tribal singing groups as a child.

Sharing a stage with Ulali validated her talents as a poet and orator, skills she considers central to her identity and place in the world, Carpenter-Kish said.

In addition to her poetic pastimes, Carpenter-Kish is an active member of Young Women United, a community organization based out of Southeast Albuquerque that focuses on promoting women’s issues, and ending violence against women.

“Right now we’re working on a partnership with a South Valley health clinic that is rooted in traditional means of healing and wellness,” Carpenter-Kish said. “Through an apprenticeship, our members are learning techniques like massage, herb work and acupressure.”

Trainees will become certified doulas, or medical assistants, as part of a larger communal health program, Carpenter-Kish said.
In October, Y-Wu members also participated in a conference in Denver, Colo., which focused on women of color and domestic violence.
Reynoso, who attended the conference, said she was amazed by the level of openness and honesty with which Carpenter-Kish spoke about instances of violence she has experienced.

“She helped me realize that being a survivor of assault made [the women] stronger rather than victimizing them,” Reynoso said.”A man could take their bodies, but not their spirits.”

The difficult situations that have arisen in her life are her greatest motivators, from the death of her younger sister to her fiancé’s deployment to Iraq, Carpenter-Kish said.

“That whole saying ‘time heals everything’ is bullshit,” she said. “The memory, the pain, is still there, but you find different ways to deal with it.”

For Carpenter-Kish, pouring her energy into fighting for equality and justice for women and the American Indian community has been the greatest, and most rewarding, answer.

Posted April 24, 2008

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