The Function of the Hopi Kachina in Tom McGrath's - Letter to an Imaginary Friend - 1984

8/7/2019 The Function of the Hopi Kachina in Tom McGrath's - Letter to an Imaginary Friend - 1984

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SOUTH DAKOTA REVIEWAutumn, 1984

The EditorThomas Matchie

Jim Ignatius Mills

James Sallis

Lois Phillips HudsonMichael K. Simmons

Lonnie KorandaLouis OwensTerry Tierney

Michael Spence

R. E. StrattonDennis SampsonSteven L. AblonGervase HittleStephen L. Tanner

Volume 22 Number 3

Literary or Not. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 4The Function of the Hopi Kachinain Tom McGrath's Letter to anImaginary Friend. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 7Old Man Dining. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 22Fishermen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 23Swans 24Revisions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 25Temptation of Silence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 26My Mother Waiting in the Fog 28Boone Caudill: The Failure of anAmerican Primitive 38Where the Music Is 44Nalusachito 55What to Do in the Case of a Gas Attack , 63The Lives of a Cell , 64Dusk and After. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 65The Darkening 66Simplification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 67Bite Down on the Azalea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 68Tornado Weather. , 70Dogs 72Rage and Order in Doctorow's Welcometo Hard Times , 79


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THOMAS MATCHIETHE FUNCTION OF THEHOPI KACHINA IN TOM McGRATH'sLETTER TO AN IMAGINARY FRIEND

One of the things that gives Tom McGrath's Letter to anImaginary Friend unusual depth-one critic describes it as the bestlong poem in America since Leaves of Grassl-is his use of and de-dication to Indian culture. This is not surprising, since he grew upnear Fort Ransom, North Dakota, where his father swappedponies with the Oglala Sioux shortly before the Battle of WoundedKnee (1890). What is surprising, however, is that he says the poemis in part a kachina, a Hopi Indian dance." The Hopis, of course,live in the Southwest, not the Midwest, and are an extremely dif-ferent breed from the Plains Indians. Moreover, McGrath's Let-ter, like Whitman's Leaves, grew out of his own experiencesthroughout America, and the Hopis were not directly a part ofthese. The question then arises: why did he include them? I wouldlike to address this problem by discussing not only the contributionof the Sioux to the theme and tone of Letter, but how McGrathcame to integrate the Hopis into his shifting themes and tones,and, more than this, how their religious-oriented music came tofunction as a kind of rhythmic parallel for the poem-all factorswhich serve to separate more than connect McGrath to the tradi-tion of Whitman.Since Indian culture is only part of the poem, a brief overviewis in order. Letter grew organically out of McGrath's experiences-from his boyhood in North Dakota, to college in Louisiana,through his experiences during World War II, to Los Angeles

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where he wrote and first published Part I (1955). Part II (1968)repeats and expands the themes of Part 1. In 1980 McGrath pub-lished "The Christmas Section" of Part III. This fragment in-cludes some world travels, and is generally more abstract, evensurrealistic in part, including a parody of the Descent of the HolyGhost upon the Virgin, and a burlesque of the Three Wise Men-strange topics, to be sure, but relevant to the underlying religiousaspect of the poem. Diane Wakoski says that it is definitely in thetradition of Whitman and "could become the greatest poem out ofthe heart of the American Midwest."? McGrath has certainly usedhis own growing consciousness to reflect events of the 20th Cen-tury, much as Whitman did the 19th, and it now appears that PartsIII and IV will be published late this year. One ought to keep inmind, however, that McGrath's involvement with Indian culturealso served to disconnect him radically from the poetry of his pred-ecessor.To appreciate this rather unwieldy poem, it is important toknow that one of the main themes is labor, or work itself, whichMcGrath thought basic to survival and personal growth. Anotheris love, which comes through relationship-to nature, to women,among people-and which creates human fulfillment. The focusof the poem is North Dakota, though this area is then enlarged toinclude all America, and even mankind in general. It is in NorthDakota that the poet first becomes aware of his basic themes, espe-cially the refreshing and renewing aspects of the prairie and cou-lees," and it is on a threshing rig in the 30's that he first sensessomething deeply significant about work and the comradeship thatit provides." It is also here that he discovers the fact and signifi-cance of Wounded Knee-that there was something wrong with aculture which would destroy the Indians' way of life to promote itsown. Indeed, it is the demise of he Sioux which provides the basisfora constant tension in the poem-one not found in Whitman-between the renewal provided by the prairie (as well by love andwork) and the destructive aspects of the Industrial Revolution.In reference to the Sioux, then, McGrath speaks of WoundedKnee not so much as a loss for the Indians as a blow to Americanfreedom-"we took a wound at Indian hands."6 In one way thatwound was finalized at Wounded Knee, but in another it becomesfor McGrath an inherent part of White culture-a kind of original

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sin in America. Midway in the poem he speaks of North Dakota asbeing everywhere, "a condition" (p. 103), and late in the poem hereflects:

The tracks of a million buffalo are lost in the night of the pastLit only by the flare of a covered wagon

a harp of fleshIs silenced

the book of feathers and moonlight is closedforever

On exhausted roads spun out of acetylene lamps of the deadOverlands

the transcontinental locomotive is anchored in concreteNext to the war memorial under the emblems of progressA vision of April light is darkened by absent eagles ...

(p. 200)This perspective is important because, unlike Whitman, who ideal-izes America-nature, the city, Democracy itself-as good and ca-pable of transcending corruption, McGrath invariably chastisesthe Whites for continuing to do what they did to the Sioux-sub-due nature, destroy the environment, undermine community life.In fact, he says we should never forget that wound, and that it isthe duty of those of us on the prairie to "keep those woundsopen.'>? Hence, his journey back to Dakota is always one to oraround "the wound."But McGrath is more than occasionally critical of America.What also sets him apart from Whitman is the frequently caustictone of Letter. It is one reminiscent of the belligerent Crazy Horse,the Sioux warrior-chief who opposed treaties and compromise ofany kind with the White settlers, miners, and soldiers who usurpedthe Midwest in the last half of the 19th Century. In the 1960' sMcGrath edited an anthology entitled Crazy Horse, where he callsfor a poetry full of "love, rage, generosity, failure, truth" bywhich to combat materialism in America." This same tone comesthrough a 1972 poem "News From Crazy Horse," where he says,"I saw Crazy Horse die for a split level swimming pool."9 In Let-ter he continues his "Crazy Horse Resistance" (p. 117), claimingthat the same capitalistic forces that killed the Sioux destroy thefarmer (p. 197), adding in Part III:

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.. anger sustains me-it is better than hope-it is not better thanLove ... but it will keep warm in the cold of the wrong worldAnd it was the wrong world we rode through thenand ride through nowlOThe motive for McGrath's tone, then, is anger, and even when heis not speaking directly about the Indians his harsh tonal (as well asthematic) shifts are reminiscent of the spirit of Crazy Horse, aswhen he makes this observation on the .so-called progress of Chris-tianity in America:

A Church is stumbling into an empty future, loftingA headless and rotting Christ on the cracked spool of a crossUnspinning god at a loss in the psalm of the man-eating wind.(p. 199)

Since McGrath's use of the Hopis comes in a religious-social con-text, comments like the above are important, for the critical tone isan ironic contrast to his own serious call for renewal-one thatpresupposes, however, that we don't gloss over the wound, andthat we never underestimate the just anger of Crazy Horse.The Hopi kachina, then, is a religious dance related to this na~tion's notion of world renewal. The dancers were men whose cos-tumes and gestures suggested and helped accomplish cosmicchange. The most obvious reference to the kachina appears in PartII of Letter:

Wait for the Angel. S A QUA SOH U H: the blue starFar off, but coming. Invisible yet. Announcing the FifthWorld (the Hopi prophecy) world we shall enter soon:When the Blue Star kachina, its manifested spirit,Shall dance the kisonvi for the first time.In still lightWait.

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"But it's cold here!" Hush.I'll take you as far as the river;

But no one may dream home the Revolution today though we offerOur daily blood, nor form from the hurt black needThe all-color red world of the poor, nor in the sovietOf students transform this might; nor alcohol compoundManifestos; nor pot set straight a sleepy rifle's dreamStill we must try.

S A QUA SOH U H.Far off: the blue

Star. The Fifth World. Coming.Now, try:

Necessary, first, the Blue Star kachina to dance the kisonvi;Necessary that the kapani at the crown of the head must beKept open always. Loosen your wigs.

I go to the farCountry

to the sacred butte and the empty landI'll make

The kachina ... (pp. 131-132)This is a complex piece of poetry. One can feel the uneven rhythmsand changing tempo of the dance-something I'll discuss later.The red and black colors of the dancers are also here, though thepoet also gives them political connotations. So are all the physicalreferences: the kiva-the dark ceremonial cave; the kisonvi, orplaza near the kiva where the new world (Saquasohuh) will arrive;and the kapani, the top of the head where the news will strike--hence, "loosen your wigs."But in a larger sense, as McGrath says, the whole poem maybe seen as a kind of kachina, that is, if we think of it as a redemp-tive movement, musical in its orientation, and designed to bringlight out of a dark situation. If we look back to Part I-beforeMcGrath was thinking specifically in the language of the Hopis=-the poet makes a dark journey from Los Angeles (where he iswriting) back to Dakota, and then, renewed by the prairies, movesoutward to America (not different from "wounded Dakota,"though the city tends to "pave those wounds over"l!) in an effortto bring new light and life into society at large. It is interesting that

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in this first part the poet speaks of a night song within a dark andstony interior, but there is still a movement toward the stars as wellas the blue moon and blue snow. This language, general and sug-gestive, might be seen in the perspective of many kinds of religiousrituals, not excluding those of the kachina. Thematically, the poetpractically despairs over the effects of capitalism, but he still endsPartI on a positive note suggestive of the Christian Easter liturgy,as he intones a litany of blessings on all kinds of people, events,and situations that make life worth living.Part II then repeats and reinterprets the themes of Part I,though now the language of renewal is that of Hopi myth and ritu-al. The Hopi context gives a new depth and breadth to the poet'sjourney because the dark aspect is now inclusive of the stony inte-rior of the kiva, and the mythic angel and blue star contribute tothe total light of renewal. Not that these elements are separatefrom similar ones in Christian thinking-the stony tomb, the "res-urrection man," the continuous references to Easter and the re-peated litanies-but now the poet has a whole new set of symbolsto surround his message. What is interesting is that as a poet heequates such things as the stone (e.g. kiva, tomb) with types ofmental entrapments, such as being stuck in a granite concern formoney. The kachina dancers of Part II, though men, are also"gods" who help free us from "the stone" of these false con-sciousnesses. Indeed the poet, by virtue of his poem, becomes sucha dancer himself, as in fact the reader is invited to take part in thetotal redemptive action-in effect, to "change the world" (p. 106).If Hopi children were given kachina dolls to make them aware ofthe supernatural meaning of the dance," the poem itself becomesour "rattle," our means to do the same.One might still ask: how does McGrath move from the Siouxto the Hopi? Hopi means' 'peace. " The Sioux were a nomadic andwarlike nation-a posture important for McGrath himself if he isto keep alive the notion of a society "wounded" by the WhiteMan. The Hopi, on the other hand, are an agricultural, corn-growing people who live in the northern desert plateaus of Ari-zona. Sedentary, they live not in teepees, but atop hugh rock pla-teaus called mesas. The oldest of America's Indians, they predateJeffersonian Democracy by five thousand years and have alwaysresisted war, pulling up ladders to keep away violent tribes. If

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McGrath is critical of the Whites' use of technology-guns, rail-roads, even plows-to destroy the Sioux, the Hopis fit nicely intohis scheme of things, for they live in cyclic contact with the naturaluniverse, and scorn the White Man's industry and technology asessentially destructive, separated from and hostile to Nature." Intheir mythology these forces belong to the Fourth World, Te-quachi, which is corrupt, and they look forward to a Fifth World,Saquasohuh, when this world will be purified and all men live inpeace. This radical distinction between the corrupt present and thefuture is not part of Whitman's vision, but becomes a key elementin McGrath's. The sign of the new world is a blue star, which theHopi await patiently. Yet it is a world which humans can help ere-ate, and that is why they dance. HMcGrath himself, of course, is not usually considered a reli-gious poet. Some see him as anti-American and subversive, and headmits he uses poetry politically-as "a weapon." 15 Still, he is areformer in the tradition of Thomas Paine and Henry DavidThoreau. 16 Renewal for McGrath, however, involves a liturgical-a religious or purgative-process, one stemming perhaps from hisIrish Catholic ancestry. Part I of Letter is both a long journey anda song; it is one that involves darkness and loss, but through thestruggle there appear stars and light that signal hope, and the sec-tion ends in a series of blessings. It is in this general religious con-text that the Hopis enter the scene, though his acquaintance withSouthwestern culture was more intellectual than experiential.While finishing Part I of Letter (1955), McGrath began to readFrank Waters' The Man Who Killed the Deer (1942)-the story ofone Pueblo's discovery of his own historical and ceremonial herit-age." And during the early 1960's, while writing Part II, he readWaters' exhaustive study entitled The Book of Hopi (1963).18 Sotaken was he with the Hopi ritual dances, as well as with theirworld view, that McGrath began to incorporate them into hispoem, both thematically and technically. In writing Part II (1968),he expresses his vision of the future in terms of Hopi mythology,and the texture of the poem now includes colors and rhythms, in-deed a whole emotional context, that are suggestive of the very actof dancing. By the time he begins Part III in the early 1980's, hecalls the entire poem "a kachina," and describes his purpose asclosely allied to that of the Hopis themselves.

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There is something else, however, that McGrath may have dicovered within Indian culture, especially that of the Hopis, whiiin the process of writing this poem. It has to do not just with rnytand ceremony, but with Indian music itself. Frances Densrnorand Benjamin Gilman, who have studied and recorded Indiamusic in many areas, stress the fact that it is vastly different frorcivilized music," and that weare really strangers to its tones anpatterns." Many do not read McGrath because of his strangrhythms and disjunct melodic patterns that seem to go in many d]rections at once. To help us appreciate his techniques he refers uto the movements in a modern painting, such as a Jackson Pollock, or modern film techniques, including flashbacks, fadeoutsand reruns." No one has mentioned the fact, however, that thmusic of the Indians may be a real key to the peculiar rhythms amoverall form of McGrath's long poem. One has only to look on ;given page, as the opening of Part II, to see how the sentence fragments form pictorial patterns, including virtual staircases of wordand phrases. It may well be that his peculiar poetic music is relaterto the instinctive and adiatonic (without scale) nature of Indiarmusic itself.Whitman's poetry, of course, is sometimes explained by anal-ogy to music, to rising and falling moods, or swelling and f'adin;moments of emotion while the lines flow in and out of each other,as though the poet were orchestrating a symphony. 22 McGrath'~poetry, on the other hand, follows more off beat and seeminglydisconnected patterns that are more akin to those of the Indians.Indian music, according to Densmore, appears to be monotonous,even childish, because the few words of a melodic line are oftenvoiced in broken sentences that seem to conflict with the drum (orrattle) in the background. Actually, the rhythm in this kind ofmusic dominates any melody and is determined, not by a set num-ber of beats per measure, but by a flexible number of accents thatoccur in measures of different lengths (e.g. three to four accentsalternating with measures of five to seven). 23 This results in an er-ratic but interesting rhythm through which a group (more than anindividual performer) works itself up to a proper pitch of enthusi-asm. Such music is not "sung to an instrument," or geared to anypitch," but sung again and again with internal accuracy accordingto instinctive patterns that involve a series of tones selected for

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their rich and varied effects. 25 Hence, the "rhythmic unit," not themelodic progression, is the norm in Indian music." And the skillsof the performer(s) are less important than the purpose for whichthe song is sung, that is, to win a game, heal the sick, bring rain forthe crops, or even help materialize a new kind of universe."Ifwe look back at the section quoted above (' 'Waiting for theAngel"), we see that the lines are broken into fragments with vary-ing numbers of accents. McGrath says that the six beat line is basicfor him, with the primary emphasis on cadence;" but this does notexplain the complex rhythms (music) of his poetry. In this sectionthere is no set number of beats per measure; rather, in Indian fash-ion the rhythm is multifarious, for the place of the accent in each

fragment changes, and the number of accents in each musicalphrase is different. The result is a highly erratic rhythm that givesthe appearance of what Gilman calls" a lawless cacophony"; it isquite unlike any consistent melodic progression, but really has anexactness even in its divergence from diatonic norms." As theverse paragraph proceeds it builds momentum, creating an intensi-ty of emotion related to the urgency of Saquasohuh-the ap-proaching fifth world. The analogy to Indian music is appropriatebecause the shifts in time and tone go with the thematic shifts.There is, for instance, a series of broken lines and meter as the poetslows the tempo and forces us to reflect "in stilI light" and a"hush[ed]" setting. This is followed by a rush of lines (politicallycharged) that run into each other at a fast pace and loud tone, onlyto be brought to an abrupt halt when we are once again asked inslow and broken rhythms to be "open" and to "try" to be recep-tive to the arrival of the new world.Gilman notes that Hopi music itself is characterized by thelack of harmony or scales found in civilized notation. For the out-sider this creates a kind of dissonant or minor sound. 3D But thereare also patterns to these sounds, even though they are not sungfrom any external notation as in the music of the Whites, and Gil-man has actually photographed the progression of these patterns,as in the Malo-Katcina-c-one type of the Hopi Indian dance."

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And the blank farm buildings fenced with ancient sleep)-to the starkAnd empty boyhood house where the journey first began ...-to search there, in the weather-making highs, in the continentalFor the lost sign, blazed tree, for the hidden place sleepThe century went wrong: to find in the Wobbly footprint Cal'sCountry ... -and sat there in those first nights: waiting(Genya, the ransom of cities, and all my past, sleepingAnd the ghosts loud round my light)Waiting.Southbound, the couleeCarries its freight of moonlight toward the fox-brightened river breaksAll time condenses here. Dakota is everywhere. The worldIs always outside this window: Now: a blaze of JanuaryHeat: the coyote: the cicadas of Skyrian snow-all hereNow or later. (The poem is merely what happens nowOn this page . . .) Night here. The breathing dark.Cave of sleep. I enter. Descending is ascending. Go downPast the stone decades and the bitter states of the anguishedand enchanged saltToward my dead. A static of hatching crystals ticks in the rockLike a clock of ice.The dead swim through the night-stone, homingInto my side. Come now my darlingsmy dear onesbeginThe difficult rising. I'll help you. Slip your foot free of the stone-I'll take you as far as the river. Sing now.We'll make the kachina.

(pp. 133-34)17


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All the themes of Letter, of course, are here-work, love, thewounded society, redemption-though they at first appear scat-tered and "off-key." What gives unity and direction to the piece isthe development of patterns which follow the movements of themalo-katcina; notice the grouping of lines and then the descenttoward a key word (keynote) such as "cold," "waiting," "dark."Later in the section the final words (notes) change to "begin," and"Slip your foot free of the stone." These patterns and key wordsgive structure to the poetry as they direct our thoughts toward free-dom of spirit and action. In fact, they become a virtual staircasewhere the different sets of steps (rhythmic units) repeat themselvesin slightly different ways, enabling the poet to create a kind of pic-ture out of the rhythms, for (as he says) the poem is "what hap-pens on this page." It is interesting that the Indians associatedtheir songs with pictorial art; 34 indeed, they meant these songs tobe sung in a certain realistic setting-amid the rock crags anddesert wind, for instance, for the music was thought to have asupernatural origin and the natural context helped to dramatizethat basic belief. 35McGrath's patterns and sounds-then, form-a picture which isgeared to action-a staircase on which we are invited to walk.Moreover, as is so important to Indian music, the whole living en-vironment is present; there is the kiva, the descending and ascend-ing, the movement from dark to light, the references to the deadpast as well as the invitation to the living present. In thissense "thestatic of hatching crystals ticking in the rock" is a telling image,for it collapses time and place; mystical and yet real, it combines asense of the supernatural with the natural, and while recognizingour predictable human apathy it injects an urgency into the presentsituation. To identify now with the old Hopi dance is to begin tochange, and it is the poet's dissonant Indian rhythms that literallysweep us into that mood.The writing of Letter to an Imaginary Friend, then, began inundefined free rhythms and verse paragraphs reminiscent of Whit-man. Indian history was part of its theme and tone-including theidea of a wounded society and a resistance to internal corruptiveforces similar to that of Crazy Horse. As the poem developed, itsauthor become more aware of Hopi myth and ritual. The idea of anew world (the myth) and the kachina (the ritual dance to effect

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that change) became part of McGrath's own vision of renewal, atthe same time enhancing the liturgical aspect of his poem. Thisdoes not mean that he is Hopi, any more than he is overtly Chris-tian, or communist. Duss says he simply has great lyrical powercombined with a "passionate demand for justice and a burningcontempt for all that in the world exploits and contaminates thegood basic stuff of life'";" the Indians, particularly the Sioux andthe Hopis, enhance that power and passion. But along with the in-sight provided by Hopi customs, McGrath seems to have foundsomething for his poetry in Indian music and dance, and a study ofthe peculiar patterns of the malo-katcina helps explain the strangeunWhitman-like tones and rhythms in Letter.Instinctive and erratic, often atonal and dissonant, theserhythms give a new freedom to the poem, different from the musicof civilization. On a given page these rhythms go in different direc-tions, but are still controlled through almost pictorial patternsdescending toward a keynote-a tone as well as an idea rooted inthe world of the Hopis, but also in the redemption of America atlarge. Densmore says of Indian music that the supernatural is com-municated in a manner that is rhythmic, 37 and this is the context inwhich McGrath's rhythms are best understood and appreciated.His poem will be read and "unearthed" for decades to come, butno explanation will be complete without looking to the dynamicsof the Hopi kachina, which has given form to the poem in its verywriting, and now continues not only to inform and inspire its read-ers, but to involve them as well in significant political and spiritualrenewal.

NOTES1. James Bertolino, Intro. to "McGrath on McGrath," Epoch 22 (1973),207. 2. Thomas McGrath, "A Note on Letter to an Imaginary Friend," in Pas-sages Toward the Dark (Port Townsend: Copper Canyon Press, 1980), p. 95.3. Diane Wakoski, "Passage Toward the Dark: Thomas McGrath,"American Book Review, 5 (May-June, 1983), 18.4. Bernard F. Engel, "Thomas McGrath's Dakota," Midwestern Miscel-lany, 4:3.5. Frederick C. Stern, " 'The Delegate for Poetry,' McGrath as comrnu-

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nist Poet," in Where the West Begins. Arthur R. Husboe and William Geyer,eds. (Sioux Falls: Center for Western Studies Press, 1978), p. 123.

6. McGrath, Letter to an Imaginary Friend, Parts I and II (Chicago: Swal-low Press, 1970), p. 190. Subsequent page numbers are taken from this text.

7. McGrath, "McGrath on McGrath;' Epoch, 22 (1973), 217.8. "MANIFESTO," Crazy Horse, Eugenia and Tom McGrath, eds, No.

2, p. 74.9. McGrath, The Movie at the End of the World (Chicago: Swallow Press,1972), p. 127.

10. McGrath, Passages Toward the Dark, p. 128.11. Engel, 11.12. Clara Lee, Tanner and John F. Tanner, "Contemporary Hopi Crafts:

Basketry, Textiles, Pottery, Kachinas," in Hopi Kachina: Spirit and Life, pp.80-85. The Tanners discuss the artistry and coloring of the kachina dolls.

13. Walter Collins O'Kane, The Hopis: A Portrait of a Desert People (Nor-man: Univ, of Oklahoma Press, 1953), pp. 190-191. O'Kane contrasts thevalues of white civilization, such as competition and achievement, with the Hopinotion of happiness that comes with living in harmony with, not changing, thenatural world.

14. Dorthy K. Washburn, ed., Hopi Kachina: Spirit of Life (Seattle: Univ.of Wash. Press, 1980), pp. 40-47. Wash burn explains how the kachina dancersare messengers between men and gods, and in this capacity literally "wear theirworld."

15. McGrath, "Thomas McGrath: An Interview," Another Chicago Maga-zine, 5 (Chicago: Thunder Mouth Press, 1980), p. 74.16. Engel, 11.17. Frank Waters, The Man Who Killed the Deer (Chicago: Swallow Press,

1942).18. Waters, The Book of Hopi (New York: Penguin Books, 1963), pp.

21-27, 165-173. Here Waters explains the myths of creation and the origin andsignificance of the Kachina dances. McGrath read this shortly before the publi-cation of Part I in the mid 1950's.

19. Benjamin Ives Gilman, Hopi Songs (New York: Houghton Mifflin Co.,1908), pp. 3-8. Gilman shows how the tone, timbre, and articulation of Hopimusic diverge from diatonic norms and result in a wholly strange method ofthought and delivery.

20. Frances Densmore, "The Songs of the Indians," The American Mer-cury Vol. 7, No. 25 (January 1926), 65-68. Densmore notes the importance ofIndian music as poetry and shows how environment is important for under-standing the pleasure of what appears as monotonous or repetitious.

21. McGrath, Passages Toward the Dark, pp. 94-95.22. Basil De Selincourt, Walt Whitman: A Critical Study (New York:

Russell & Russell, 1965), pp. 94-118.23. Densmore, The American Indians and Their Music. (New York: The

Woman's Press, 1926), pp. 134-42. Densmore explains many of the peculiaritiesof Indian tone and rhythm. See also Densmore's "Rhythm in the Music of the20


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American Indian," 20th Century Congress of Americanist," Rio de Janerio(1922), pp. 85-89. .24. Densmore, "The Study of Indian Music," Smithsonian Report (1941),Facsmile Reproduction (Seattle: Shorey Book Store, 1966), 536, 540.

25. Densmore, "What Intervals Do Indians Sing?" American Anthropolo-gist, 32 (1929), 273-275.26. Densmore, "A Resemblance Between Yuman and Pueblo Songs,"American Anthropologist, 34 (1932), 694-695.27. Densmore, "What Intervals Do Indians Sing?" 272. See also" Indian

Music," 5.28. McGrath, Letter to an Imaginary Friend. In "A Note on the Book"McGrath says he often cuts the line for emphasis.

29. Gilman, p. 5. What Gilman says here of Hopi music might also be saidof McGrath's poetic patterns.

30. Gilman. Densmore also discusses the frequency of the' 'minor quality"in Indian songs in "The Melodic Formulation of Indian Songs," Journal of theAmerican Academy of Sciences, Vol. 18, No.1 (January 4, 1928),23.31. Gilman, p. 112.32. Gilman, pp. 1-3.33. Densmore, "The Melodic Formulation of Indian Songs," 20-23.34. Densmore, "Indian Music," 7. See also The American Indians andTheirMusic, p. 132.35. Theodore Baker, On the Music of the North American Indians, Trans.

by Ann Buckley, (New York: Da Capo Press, 1977), p. 69. For Baker the Indi-an's relation to nature gave his spirit its strongest stimulus.

36. Erling Duss, "Waiting for the Angel," Dakota Arts Quarterly (Sept.1977), pp. 30-31.

37. Densmore, "Rhythm in the Music of the American Indians," 89.

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The Function of the Hopi Kachina in Tom McGrath's - Letter to an Imaginary Friend - 1984

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