Chrystos

Chrystos (/ˈkrɪstoʊs/; born November 7, 1946, as Christina Smith)^[1] is a two-spirit writer and activist who has published various books and poems that explore Indigenous American civil rights, social justice, and feminism. They are of mixed Menominee–Lithuanian/Alsace Lorraine heritage.^[2][3][4] Chrystos is also a lecturer, writing teacher and fine-artist. The poet uses the pronouns "they" and "them".

Chrystos – a resident of Ocean Shores, Washington since 2011^[5] – is a lesbian- and two-spirit writer, artist and activist. Born "off-reservation" in San Francisco, California, Chrystos is an urban Indian,^[6] who was taught to read by their self-educated father, and began writing poetry at age nine. They moved to Bainbridge Island, Washington in 1980.^[5] Chrystos has written of a difficult, "emotional and abnormal" childhood, including sexual abuse by a relative;^[6] and life with an abusive and depressed white mother, Virginia (née Lunkes) of Lithuanian and Alsatian descent, and a Native American father of Menominee heritage, Fletcher L. Smith, who was a WW2 veteran. At the age of seventeen, Chrystos was placed into a mental institution. They fell into drug addiction, alcoholism, and prostitution during this time. They would be re-institutionalized several more times before deciding it was ineffective in helping their mental health issues.^[7]

A self-described political poet, Chrystos was inspired by familial angst stemming from European American cultural hegemony,^[8] and more positively influenced by the work of Audre Lorde, Joy Harjo, Elizabeth Woody, and Lillian Pitt, among others,^[9] to produce a series of volumes of poetry and prose throughout the 1980s and 1990s (see bibliography below). Chrystos' work focuses on social justice issues, such as how colonialism, genocide, class and gender affect the lives of women and Indigenous peoples.^[10] Much of the writer's childhood is evident in works about street life, gardening, mental institutions, incest, "the Man" (authoritarian patriarchy), love, sex, rage, and hate. The works are primarily intended for an audience of Indigenous people, people of color more broadly, and lesbians.^[11][12] The works are also aimed at raising awareness of Native American heritage and culture, while breaking down stereotypes.^[13] Scholar Sandra M. Cox describes Chrystos' work as a form of autoethnography which challenges fixed ideas of identity, especially through narrative voice.^[2][14]

Chrystos self-illustrated many of the covers, and usually had the books published in Canada to work around censorious American publishers and "very little support for writers" in the United States.^[15] Donnelle Dreese said that their poetry "speaks for American Indians whose voices have been throttled by dominant cultur[al] imposition. With the stifled voices of [their] ancestors speaking through [them], is it any wonder that [they emerge] from [their] poetry with explosion?"^[16]

While they’re better known for their poems about social justice, Chrystos also has a significant body of erotic poetry. This work has been called "delicious reading"^[17] and adopts a celebratory tone, in contrast to the darker themes in their other work.^[13] Dreese notes that it is "highly sensual and imagistic", and that its presentation is more formal and ordered than the poet's other work.^[16] Chrystos co-edited Best Lesbian Erotica 1999 with Tristan Taormino. Chrystos' awards and honors include a National Endowment for the Arts grant, the Human Rights Freedom of Expression Award, the Sappho Award of Distinction from the Astrea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, a Barbara Deming Grant, and the Audre Lorde International Poetry Competition.^[13] Scholars have suggested that Chrystos uses Indigenous expressions of eroticism as an antidote to the repressive effects of colonialism upon Indigenous genders and sexuality.^[18]

Chrystos' activism has focused on efforts to free Norma Jean Croy and Leonard Peltier, and the rights of tribes such as the Diné (Navajo) and Mohawk people.^[5][19][20] In a 2010 interview with Black Coffee Poet, Chrystos described their social justice interests as "diverse," citing abortion, wife-battering, and prisoner issues, although they acknowledge these issues are of "no immediate benefit" to them.^[21][20]

• This Bridge Called My Back (anthology) Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, 1981; contributor
• Not Vanishing, Vancouver: Press Gang Publishers, 1988, ISBN 0-88974-015-1
• Dream On, Vancouver: Press Gang Publishers, 1991
• In Her I Am, Vancouver: Press Gang Publishers, 1993
• Fugitive Colors, Cleveland: Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 1995, ISBN 1-880834-11-1
• Fire Power, Vancouver: Press Gang Publishers, 1995, ISBN 0-88974-047-X
• Some Poems by People I Like (anthology of 5 poets; Sandra Alland, editor) Toronto: SandrasLittleBookshop, 2007, ISBN 978-0-9739540-1-2; contributor
• Best Lesbian Erotica 1999, Cleis Press, 1999, ISBN 1573440493; co-editor

• Native American studies
• Lesbian poetry

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