SOURCE: “‘A Heart Made out of Crickets’: An Interview with Linda Hogan,” in Journal of Ethnic Studies, Vol. 16, No. 1, Spring, 1988, pp. 107-17.

In the following interview, Hogan and Schöler discuss Hogan's technique and the meaning of her poetry.

Born in 1947, Linda Hogan (Chickasaw) did not start to write creative literature until she was in her late twenties. But since the publication in 1980 of her first book, Calling Myself Home, she has been prolific. Four collections of poetry have appeared, and a fifth will be forthcoming in early 1988. In addition, one collection of short stories, That Horse, appeared in 1985, and a novel is in progress. Hogan's work has been included in a number of anthologies since 1975.

Hogan's poetry is earth-centered and organic, and it vibrates with a deep sense of tribal history and spirit of place. As such, her poems are intensely political. While written in the syllables...