Despite its rather ominous fide, The Summer of Black Widows (1996), a
collection of poems and prose poems, is a return to the more personal and
immediate. Rather than considering the inter-section points between
Native and mainstream America as in Reservation Blues and Indian
Killer, Alexie returns primarily to an exploration of reservation life. The
poems often celebrate the strength and resilience of cultural traditions in
the face of poverty and marginalization while offering ideas for
empowerment of the Indian community.
As in his previous collections of poetry,
Alexie emphasizes the importance of
imagination md storytelling as having the
greatest potential for ;midi, ■rating
...onditions on the reservation. It is he, the
storyteller, who 'a asis:s n unnamed person if
he can "Weave A story I rim V i ii hAir- in Atter the First lightning." which helps them
to remnant -warm and sate- from the metaphorical storms that hatter the reset \ ,ition: in
the title poem. -The Summer ol \Is Liui pares
stories to Ish,•1, %If 4,1, r ,1111111 I, I /1,1
r ,r,•iiriA I for