I used to think the world was broken down by tribes,’ I said. ‘By Black and White. By Indian and White. But I know this isn’t true. The world is only broken into two tribes: the people who are assholes and the people who are not.

Sometimes, she wondered what she was missing, if her life was somehow incomplete because she didn’t see the reflection of her face in the face of a son or daughter. Maybe. That’s what mothers told her: Oh, you don’t know what you’re missing; it’s spiritual; I feel closer to the earth, to the creator of...

Certainly I’m angry at the way Indians have been treated and continue to be treated. But I don’t think it’s a helpless emotion.

I wanted to do a weird book and reestablish my independent, small-press roots.

I learned how to stop crying.I learned how to hide inside of myself.I learned how to be somebody else.I learned how to be cold and numb.

Poetry = Anger x Imagination

They put me in a holding cell with a black kid and a white kid and a Chinese kid. We’re the United Nations of juvenile delinquents.

My name is Sherman J. Alexie Jr., and I am an insomniac.

Despite all of the time he spent in Big Heart’s, Wilson had never come to understand the social lives of Indians. He did not know that, in the Indian world, there is not much social difference between a rich Indian and a poor one. Generally speaking, Indian is Indian. A few who gain wealth and...

I would close my eyes and dream of something strong, dream of horses exploding, rising into the air, their hearts beating survive, survive, survive.

He wanted the songs, the stories, to save everybody.

If I wasn’t writing poems I’d be washing my hands all the time.

Then I remember that God is really, really old. So maybe God has God arthritis. And maybe that’s why the world sucks. Maybe God’s hands and fingers don’t work as well as they used to.

Read. Read 1000 pages for every 1 page that you write.

For the mentally disturbed, Marie knew these sandwich visits might be the only dependable moments in their lives. She also knew she delivered the sandwiches for her own sanity. Something would crumble inside of her if she ever walked by a homeless person and pretended not to notice. Or simply didn’t care. In a way,...

What inspires a poem for me is usually a moment.

In a real-world way, my gifts are very limited in terms of what I can do.

I’d only seen Julius play a few times, but he had that gift, that grace, those fingers like a goddamn medicine man. One time, when the tribal school traveled to Spokane to play this white high school team, Julius scored sixty-seven points and the Indians won by forty.I didn’t know they’d be riding horses,” I...

Everyone I have lost in the closing of a doorthe click of the lockis not forgotten, theydo not die but remainwithin the soft edgesof the earth, the ashof house fires and cancerin sin and forgivenesshuddled under old blanketsdreaming their way intomy hands, my heartclosing tight like fists.- “Indian Boy Love Song #1

THE UNOFFICIAL AND UNWRITTEN(but you better follow them or you’re going to get beaten twice as hard)SPOKANE INDIAN RULES OF FISTICUFFS:1. IF SOMEBODY INSULTS YOU, THEN YOU HAVE TO FIGHT HIM.2. IF YOU THINK SOMEBODY IS GOING TO INSULT YOU, THEN YOU HAVE TO FIGHT HIM.3. IF YOU THINK SOMEBODY IS THINKING ABOUT INSULTING YOU,...

My wife was the first romantic partner who understood both American and native parts of me – not so much the positive stuff, but the damage.

A bullet only costs about two cents, and anybody can afford that.

I remember when I had this dream that told me to go to Spokane, to stand by the falls in the middle of the city and wait for a sign. I knew I had to go there but I didn’t have a car. Didn’t have a license. I was only thirteen. So I walked all...

Thomas Builds-the-Fire’s stories climbed into your clothes like sad, gave you itches that could not be scratched. If you repeated eve a sentence from one of those stories, your throat was never the same again. Those stories hung in your clothes and hair like smoke, and no amount of laundry soap or shampoo washed them...

I look more Indian when I’m serious.

Teenagers read millions of books every year. They read for entertainment and for education. They read because of school assignments and pop culture fads. And there are millions of teens who read because they are sad and lonely and enraged. They read because they live in an often-terrible world. They read because they believe despite...

The ordinary can be like medicine.

I’m a freak with power.

You know, people speak in poetry all the time. They just don’t realize it.

My career means, if you’re a non-Indian writing about Indians, at least there’s one Indian in your rearview mirror.

Last night I missed two free throws which would have won the game against the best team in the state. The farm town high school I play for is nicknamed the “Indians,” and I’m probably the only actual Indian ever to play for a team with such a mascot.This morning I pick up the sports...

Do you understand how amazing it is to hear that from an adult? Do you know how amazing it is to hear that from anybody? It’s one of the simplest sentences in the world, just four words, but they’re the four hugest words in the world when they’re put together.You can do it.

Like a good Indian, he knew when to talk and when to remain silent. Like a good Indian, he knew there was never a good time to talk.

I thought I’d been condescended to as an Indian – that was nothing compared to the condescension for writing young adult literature.

They’re all gone, my tribe is gone. Those blankets they gave us, infected with smallpox, have killed us. I’m the last, the very last, and I’m sick, too. So very sick. Hot. My fever burning so hot. I have to take off my clothes, feel the cold air, splash water across my bare skin. And...

If one reads enough books one has a fighting chance. Or better, one’s chances of survival increase with each book one reads.

In the middle of the night, when you’re ambiguously ethnic, like me, when you’re brown, beige, mauve, siena, one of those lighter browns in the Crayola box. You have to be careful of the cops and robbers, because nobody’s quite sure what you are, but everybody has assumptions.

Well, I think the worst part about tribalism is its tendency to fundamentalize, and if I can fight fundamentalism in any of its forms I’m happy.

You wouldn’t think there is anything life threatening about speech impediments, but let me tell you, there is nothing more dangerous than being a kid with a stutter and a lisp.

It’s not oil that runs the world, it’s shame.

He was going to punish me now. He couldn’t beat me up with his old man fists, but he could hurt me with his old man words.

The dream he needed most was the dream that frightened him more.

Spiritual matters should be private.

Like officer Dave.He’s never said much about his life, but I can tell he’s scarred. And he knows I’m scarred too. The wounded always recognize the wounded. We can smell each other.

What if someone picks on me?” I askedThen I’ll pick on them”.What if someone picks my nose?” I asked.The I’ll pick your nose, too” Rowdy said.

I’m quite aware of my differences. I wouldn’t classify them as weird

My father was always depressed. When he was home and sober, he was mostly in his room.

Coach said. “the quality of a man’s life is in direct proportion to his commitment to excellence, regardless of his chosen field of endeavor”.

He looked into the crowd for approval, saw his mother and father. He waved and they waved back. Smiles and Indian teeth. They were both drunk. Everything familiar and welcome. Everything beautiful.

Don’t live up to your stereotypes.