Pre-order Dancing to the Ticking of the Doomsday Clock

Dancing to the Ticking of the Doomsday Clock measures time from the poet’s individual Indigenous perspective. The poems shimmy, twirl, and undulate to the rhythms of past, present, future, and moments out of time. Each step in the dance aspires to move us one step closer to healing the painful American legacy of ecocide, colonization, and religious indoctrination of Indigenous peoples.

The collection pairs love, hope, humor, and optimism with climate crisis, extinction, and cultural genocide to make for a read that is at turns joyful and sorrow laden. One moment we are hailing poetic self-empowerment, the next we are casting a suspicious eye on the white power structures that silence or appropriate Indigenous voices.

These poems address difficult topics while celebrating language and living. They are for poets and non-poets, Indigenous and non-Indigenous audiences alike. They are meant to shed light and delight. There is much here to ponder and enjoy.

Rena Priest is a member of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) Nation. She served as Washington State's 6th Poet Laureate (2021-2023) and is the author of three books and two anthologies. She has received fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, Indigenous Nations Poets, and University of Washington Libraries. Her work appears in Poetry Magazine, Yellow Medicine Review, Poetry Northwest, Poets.org and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. Learn more at renapriest.com