Layli Long Soldier’s poem titled 38 is striking in how it directly addresses her writing style, and subsequently, addresses potential critics who expect her to be “minding what the rules of writing dictate.” She notes that “the history of the sentence will be honored by ending each one with appropriate punctuation such as a period or question mark, thus bringing the idea to (momentary) completion.” However, Soldier proceeds to discuss the Dakota 38, the largest legal mass execution in recorded history. History glosses over the tragedy, with the movie Lincoln completely omitting its occurrence. As Soldier’s discussion of the Dakota 38 progresses, her structure gradually deviates from that which she started with, notably at:

“When Myrick’s body was found,

his mouth was stuffed with grass,”

where Soldier breaks from the traditional grammatical structure and inserts an indentation – a space without words. She follows that “Real poems do not “really” require words,” and likewise, the Dakota 38 + 2 Rider’s memorial horse ride is not a speech or documentary, nor of “plaques, statues or gravestones” – it too is an act without words.

Thus in the deviation from the typical grammatical structure that Soldier anticipates her writing will be critiqued against, her response is literally one that does not require words – communicating through the trauma, and through the negative space – similarly recreated on page 8 – that this sort of trauma cannot be written about or encapsulated in the expected structure. Soldier communicates that to do its authenticity and pain justice, a deviation from the traditional structure is not merely a poetic flourish but a necessity.