Prairie Bones

Prairie Bones is a collection of poems about reconnecting with Lakota kin, culture, and learning what it means to stand alongside all the relatives of this land to fight for a better future. Author Robert Harold Bordeaux grew up disconnected from his Lakota family, a disconnection caused by the continued effects of the colonial systems implemented since European contact on Turtle Island. After many years of trying to find his way home, Bordeaux connected with his father's family and Sicangu Lakota Oyate on the Rosebud Reservation.

Prairie Bones offers small glimpses of this journey as Bordeaux pieces together connection and relationship with ancestors, land, himself, and mit?ak?uyep?i.

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Robert Harold Bordeaux is a Sica?gu Lak?ot?a descendant and writer and activist from Spearfish, South Dakota. Growing up disconnected from his Lak?ot?a family, his life has been a journey of finding his way home to the Rosebud Reservation to share space and grow in relationship with his tiwahe (family). In his writing, he touches on this journey connecting with his Lak?ot?a roots as he learns from U?c?i Mak?a what it means to be a good relative and ancestor. He shares openly about his life through his books, content shared online, and speaking. Outside of writing, Bordeaux is an organizer for NDN Collective and active in carrying on his ancestors' legacy of fighting for sovereignty through his activism around the abolition of colonial systems.

His previous work includes his debut poetry collection Lovely Seeds (2017), Quiet Remnants (2018), a short story in the anthology Disconnected (2018), and various poems found in previous editions of South Dakota Poetry Society's literary magazine Pasque Petals.