An excellent free verse translation presents … [Cardenal's] poems of lost American Indian civilizations [Homage to the American Indians]. The poetry is clear, lean, and proselike, making effective use of alliteration, repetition, and allusion. Its sharp imagery focuses upon vanished Indian worlds …, contemporary destructive forces …, and our need for contact with the wellsprings of Indian vitality…. Cardenal's eloquent, evocative poetry is fit homage to the rich heritage left us by the American Indians which, he hopes, may lead to the spiritual rebirth of mankind.

Robert D. Welch, in a review of "Homage to the American Indians," in Library Journal, Vol. 99, No. 1, January 1, 1974, p. 59.