Riding the Earthboy 40

This book introduces James Welch who brings something new to American poetry. Never before has there been an American poet writing in English about the American Indian experience with such intimate knowledge. Welch's poems reveal the hidden life, the undiscovered in the commonplace. Welch is a Black Food Indian brought up in Montana and educated at the University of Montana. His father tenant-farmed 40 acres belonging to the Earthboy family.