Beyond Borders, May 17, 2025
Mary TallMountain
The Light on The Tent Wall: A Bridging
Poetry. American Indian Studies. Illustrated by Claire Fejes. THE LIGHT ON THE TENT WALL: A BRIDGING is a collection of poetry from the late American Indian poet Mary TallMountain: “Mary TallMountain has written of a visionary wolf who appears during the final hours of destruction in this century. This cycle of poems marks her as the sister of the wolf. Each poem is a track, and the series of tracks makes a bridge back to the ‘light on the tent wall,’ which is the sacred place of the songs, the stories that created us, a place where wolves camped out with humans.” -Joy Harjo. Mary TallMountain was born in Nulato, Alaska, one hundred miles south of the Artic Circle. Her career included legal secretary work in Reno, Nevada where she developed a strong interest in the Roman Catholic religion. TallMountain incorporated her Christian faith, Native spirituality and Athabascan heritage into her writings.
Publisher UCLA American Indian Studies Center
