A father’s firmness and a young man’s growth are the focuses of Ivan Kershner’s tight, compelling poem.
Ivan Kershner
About Ivan Kershner
Growing up “poor and on horseback” as part of a ranching family on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota (Lakota Sioux) provided Ivan with opportunities and perspectives rare in today’s world. As one of a class of three students in a one-room rural school, Ivan learned early on the benefits of literacy and its ability to open up the world. Uniquely, Ivan was a minority in a Native culture not far removed from its roots in the open plains (e.g., his family’s hired man, Paul Bear Saves Life, had been a baby at the Massacre at Wounded Knee and Ivan’s best friend was Chucky Looking Elk). Ivan has never forgotten these foundational life lessons.