In 2016, people gathered to protest the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in and around the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. In the coming months, the encampment would swell to thousands of indigenous people and non-Native relatives.
The governor of North Dakota activated the National Guard as the pipeline battle played out in federal court. National news organizations reported on the standoff and on alleged police violence against the water protectors.
Teresa Dzieglewicz was there. She was a teacher at the Mní Wičhóni Nakíčižiŋ Wouŋspe (Defenders of the Water School). She is also a poet. Dzieglewicz is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, a Best New Poets award, and an Academy of American Poets Prize.
Her new poetry collection is called “Something Small of How to See a River.”
She spoke with SDPB’s Lori Walsh.
