Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Simon J. Ortiz’s "What Indians?" is a searing deconstruction of colonial mythmaking, the imposed identity of Native Americans, and the paradox of both presence and erasure. The poem interrogates how the concept of "Indians" was not an Indigenous self-definition but rather a European invention, a projection of belief that became so pervasive that even Indigenous people internalized it. Through repetition, irony, and shifts between questioning and assertion, Ortiz unravels the absurdity of colonial perception, exposing the ways in which Indigenous people have been simultaneously imagined and erased, objectified and denied their humanity.

The poem opens with an anecdotal, conversational tone: "The Truth Is: 'No kidding?' 'No.' 'Come on! That can't be true!' 'No kidding.'” This exchange immediately sets up the reader for a confrontation with uncomfortable realities, mirroring the incredulous reactions people often have when faced with historical truths about Indigenous erasure. The casual phrasing disarms the reader before the poem moves into its intellectual and philosophical critique.

Ortiz begins with a direct statement: "‘What Indians?’ is my too-often unspoken response to people who ask ‘When do the Indians dance?’” This line immediately exposes the stereotype that Native Americans exist only as cultural artifacts or performers. The expectation of an "Indian dance" reduces Indigenous people to a spectacle, reinforcing the idea that they exist solely within an imagined past. Ortiz’s refusal to answer directly suggests the exhaustion of constantly correcting misconceptions, a silence that speaks volumes about how Indigenous people are perceived.

The poem then expands its critique: "Like other colonized Indigenous peoples, cultures, and communities throughout the world, Native Americans have experienced and endured identities imposed on them by colonial powers." Ortiz situates Native American identity within a global framework of colonialism, connecting the experience of Indigenous peoples in North America to those across the world. The phrase "experienced and endured" emphasizes both the imposed nature of these identities and the resilience of those who have survived them. The next statement—"This imposition has resulted... in the loss of a sense of a centered human self and the weakening and loss of Indigenous cultural identity."—acknowledges the psychological and cultural toll of colonial narratives, emphasizing that these myths have real consequences.

As the poem progresses, Ortiz turns to history’s erasures and fabrications: "Where are the Indians? / Where are the real Indians?" The repetition of these questions highlights the absurdity of how Indigenous people have been categorized—expected to fit into a fixed historical image rather than recognized as dynamic, living communities. The answer follows in blunt negation: "There are no Indians. / There are no real Indians. / There were never any Indians. / There were never any Indians." This refrain is shocking in its directness, mimicking the historical erasure Indigenous people have faced. However, the irony is unmistakable: the absence Ortiz refers to is not the actual disappearance of Native peoples but the falseness of the colonial construct of "Indians."

Ortiz then shifts into an examination of European belief: "Indians were what people in Europe wanted to believe. / 'Indians' were what Europeans wanted. To believe." The repetition and restructuring of this phrase reinforce the idea that "Indians" were an invention—an imagined identity created to justify conquest, displacement, and control. The emphasis on belief exposes how colonial narratives function: if Europeans needed to see "Indians" as primitive, noble, or doomed, they would shape reality to fit that expectation.

The poem’s satirical tone intensifies: "They believed! Oh my, yes, they believed! / Soon, very quickly, there were Indians!" Here, Ortiz uses exaggeration and irony to highlight the absurdity of how Indigenous identity was defined by external forces. The notion that belief itself could create "Indians" reflects the power of colonial mythmaking. The next lines—"If it's one thing Europeans knew how to do, it was to believe! / They still do, you won't believe it even though it's true!"—mock the enduring nature of these fabricated narratives, emphasizing that many non-Natives continue to accept these myths without question.

The most haunting revelation follows: "Soon even 'the Indians' believed there were 'Indians.' / Soon even the 'Indians' believed they were Indians." This statement addresses the internalization of colonial identity. Forced into reservations, schools, and policies that demanded assimilation, Indigenous people were compelled to accept the colonial categorization of "Indians," often at the expense of their own specific tribal identities. The realization that even Indigenous people came to believe in the imposed definition of themselves is perhaps the most tragic consequence of colonialism.

Ortiz contrasts this imposed identity with an assertion of true Indigenous humanity: "Nonetheless they were people. / They were hanoh. They were people who were themselves. / They were people who were their own people." By invoking hanoh—a term for "people" in some Indigenous languages—Ortiz rejects the colonial label and reaffirms Indigenous self-definition. The repetition of "people" re-centers Native identity not as a spectacle or an invention but as an undeniable, lived reality.

The closing section dismantles the romanticized image of "real Indians": "See Indians. / See real Indians. / See real Indians play. / See real Indians work." These lines parody the language of children’s books or anthropological studies, mocking the expectation that Indigenous people must conform to a performative identity. The final negation—"But there was nothing to see. / Because there was nothing there. / Nothing real or surreal. / To see."—suggests that the "Indians" people expect to see do not exist, because they never did in the way colonialism imagined them.

The final meditation—"What did they see? / Did they see people? / Did they see people like themselves?"—returns to the root question: Did Europeans ever see Indigenous people as human beings, as equals? The poem suggests that they did not; instead, they saw what they wanted to see. The repetition of "What did they see?" forces the reader to confront this ongoing failure of perception.

Ortiz closes with a powerful assertion of Indigenous identity beyond colonial constructs: "They were people. Different from each other. Speaking different and distinct and separate languages... They celebrated their differences. Yes, they were different but they were all the same: The People, Human Beings, You, Me." This final re-centering of Indigenous identity—complex, diverse, yet fundamentally human—undoes the colonial fiction. The repetition of "always" in the last stanza emphasizes continuity, resilience, and presence: "always no matter what always and always... they/we were/are people like you and just like me." The shift between they and we collapses the distance between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, asserting a shared humanity that colonialism sought to deny.

Ortiz’s free verse style, use of repetition, and ironic tone create a forceful and dynamic rhythm that mirrors the process of dismantling falsehoods. The layering of negations and assertions reflects the complexity of Indigenous identity—both the ways it has been imposed and the ways it has endured.

"What Indians?" is ultimately a poem about the power of naming, the violence of imposed identity, and the resilience of Indigenous people in the face of erasure. Ortiz dismantles the colonial invention of "Indians," exposing it as a construct designed to justify conquest. Yet, beneath this imposed identity, real people have always existed—diverse, self-defined, and unbroken. Through humor, irony, and unflinching critique, Ortiz refuses to let Indigenous existence be reduced to myth, reaffirming that Native people are not relics of the past, but living, breathing, enduring human beings.

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