Elk River Books will welcome Oglala Lakota poet Luke Warm Water for a reading of his work on Tuesday, July 17 at 7 p.m. Described by one reviewer as “Sherman Alexie meets Charles Bukowski meets Tom Waits,” Warm Water is known as much for his delivery as his words.
Born and raised in Rapid City, South Dakota, Warm Water was the first spoken-word poet to receive an Archibald Bush Foundation individual artist fellowship in literature, and was a featured poet at the prestigious Geraldine R. Dodge 12th Biennial Poetry Festival. His poetry appears in the literary journals Yellow Medicine Review, Oregon Literary Review, and Red Ink, and in the collections Sing: Poetry from the Indigenous Americas (University of Arizona Press, 2011), and Shedding Skins: Four Sioux Poets (Michigan State University Press, 2008), which author Susan Power describes as “a literary grenade.”
Warm Water has been featured at poetry venues throughout the United States and Europe, and has won Poetry Slam competitions from California to Germany. He is the recipient of a 2010 Oakland Cultural Arts grant. Luke currently resides in Oakland, California.
Warm Water’s reading at the bookstore, 115 E. Callender St. in Livingston, is free, open to the public and will be followed by a reception and signing.
Hey Luke you migh rember me from portland we hung out after Layola a few times and went to midnight mass in the 03- 07 era Hoe are you/ Imwriting a lot life is wierd but life is good hope you see this hope you are doing well peace