Diane Burns's "Sure You Can Ask Me a Personal Question" [Terence Winch]

 

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I can't remember when I first encountered this poem. I know I stumbled on it accidentally, I think while doing some on-line research during my days as Head of Publications at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. We had launched a poetry feature called "Pulling Down the Clouds" for our membership magazine, and I was always on the lookout for interesting Native work to run as the focus of the feature.

I knew immediately I wanted this poem in the magazine. I loved its directness, its snarly, unapologetic, in-your-face attitude. Its completely sophisticated, contemporary use of language. This was not work that catered to white assumptions and stereotypes: just the opposite, in fact. Hers is a complex voice in which humor, bitterness, and hipness all coexist in service to the poem. This was a voice like that of my many Indian friends and colleagues, but one rarely heard by the non-Native world (at least beyond the pages of a Sherman Alexie book).

Further investigation revealed that the poem was written in 1989 and that Diane Burns, a Lac Courte Oreilles/Chemeheuvi, was born in 1957 and had passed away in 2006. She "first emerged," we told our readers, "as a powerful literary voice in the 1970s working as a poet and model in New York City. Burns’s first and only book of poetry, Riding the One-Eyed Ford (Contact II Publications, 1981), further established her reputation as a unique talent by challenging Native American stereotypes through sharp wit and honesty. In the 1980s, Burns joined a circle of poets and writers in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, reading her work at the renowned Bowery Poetry Club and Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery."

Since I first presented this poem in 2010, much more information on Burns has become available. For various audio and video links, visit her Wikipedia page.

Sherman Alexie has also let me know that Burns's only book has been digitized here.


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Sure You Can Ask Me A Personal Question


How do you do?
No, I am not Chinese.
No, not Spanish.
No, I am American Indian, Native American.

No, not from India.
No, not Apache
No, not Navajo.
No, not Sioux.
No, we are not extinct.
Yes, Indian.

Oh?
So that's where you got those high cheekbones.
Your great grandmother, huh?
An Indian Princess, huh?
Hair down to there?
Let me guess. Cherokee?

Oh, so you've had an Indian friend?
That close?

Oh, so you've had an Indian lover?
That tight?

Oh, so you've had an Indian servant?
That much?

Yeah, it was awful what you guys did to us.
It's real decent of you to apologize.
No, I don't know where you can get peyote.
No, I don't know where you can get Navajo rugs real cheap.
No, I didn't make this. I bought it at Bloomingdales.

Thank you. I like your hair too.
I don't know if anyone knows whether or not Cher
is really Indian.
No, I didn't make it rain tonight.

Yeah. Uh-huh. Spirituality.
Uh-huh. Yeah. Spirituality. Uh-huh. Mother
Earth. Yeah. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Spirituality.

No, I didn't major in archery.
Yeah, a lot of us drink too much.
Some of us can't drink enough.

This ain't no stoic look.
This is my face.


An earlier version of this post appeared on the Best American Poetry blog, April 12, 2010.

©Terence Winch  

Permission required to use any of the contents of this post.



Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 1, 2026 at 8:04 AM

    Thank you for re-posting this terrific poem, Terence. I loved every funny, sad, hip line. (By the way, I don't know if Cher is Indian or not either.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousFebruary 1, 2026 at 8:17 AM

      I love this poem. I have committed at least two of those sins . I’m
      Ashamed. I live poems that dare to b funny and deeply serious at the same time.

      Delete
  2. GraceFebruary 1, 2026 at 8:26 AM

    I did know of her early on and glad you've brought her alive again and to the living..

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bob HolmanFebruary 1, 2026 at 8:28 AM

    The Diane revival is a wondrous thing! Her “Poetry Spots” video of this poem has been at PS1, Sydney Modern and many other museums. Her daughter, Britta, occasionally reads this poem in celebration. One small correct — while Diane did hang out at St Marks, it was Steve Cannon’s Gathering of the Tribes that was her home base. She worked there for years.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousFebruary 1, 2026 at 9:00 AM

    Brilliant, Brilliant. This poem should be read in every High school and university at least once a term... In fact it should be read by everyone in the US --- Good that you published this here and elsewhere. From someone who spend a week at Standing Rock... Greg Delanty

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousFebruary 1, 2026 at 9:41 AM

    Smart, touching, wounding...as it should be. Thanks, Terence. Beth J

    ReplyDelete
  6. David Beaudouin February 1, 2026 at 9:56 AM

    I love the laconic and deft use of language Diane employees in this poem. While masking deeper feelings with understatement, she builds to that final line that speaks truth to White stereotyping. Thanks, Terence!

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousFebruary 2, 2026 at 7:09 AM

    What an amazing poem. Love the uh- huh Thx for re posting posting this.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousFebruary 2, 2026 at 11:10 AM

    This is great, yes, everyone should read this, thank you Terence. Becky L

    ReplyDelete

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