The University of Arizona Press
This Music
Record of a Poet Becoming
This Music is the final, intimate work of celebrated Koyoonk’auwi (Concow) poet and essayist Janice Gould, completed posthumously by a collective of close friends and literary scholars.
Told through lyrical prose poems and personal photographs, this memoir traces Gould’s life as a queer/Two-Spirit California Native coming of age in the late 1960s, navigating family, identity, activism, and art. With reflections on her mixed-blood heritage, her experiences in lesbian feminist circles, and her journey as a poet and musician, Gould’s voice resonates with clarity, tenderness, and fierce honesty.
The book opens with a foreword by Joy Harjo and an introduction from the editorial collective, including an essay by Gould’s spouse, Marie-Elise Wheatwind, framing the memoir as both a literary achievement and a loving tribute.
This Music is a vital contribution to Indigenous and LGBTQ+ literatures, offering readers a rare and powerful account of gender, sexuality, and Native identity in mid-century and contemporary America. As the one hundredth volume in the Sun Tracks series, this work honors Gould’s legacy while expanding the canon of poetic memoir. Ideal for readers of poetry, memoir, and Indigenous literature, this book will resonate deeply with scholars, students, and anyone drawn to stories of resilience, creativity, and the enduring power of memory.
“This Music is a heartfelt story of genderfluidity, lesbian concerns, and the American West, told through the eyes of a mixed blood Urban Indian coming-of-age in a California of old.”—Deborah Taffa, author of Whiskey Tender: A Memoir
“Janice Gould’s This Music offers an intimate portrait of growing up in California, becoming a poet and musician, and making meaning in the world.”—Julie R. Enszer, editor and publisher of Sinister Wisdom
“This magnificent memoir, long overdue, will not only keep Janice Gould’s remarkable poetry alive, but the heartfelt and heart-seeing life of the poet herself. Thank you, Janice for leaving us the gifts.”—Greg Sarris, Chairman of The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria and author of the forthcoming novel, The Last Human Bear
“What a rich, compelling memoir Janice Gould has left us. It brings my friend back to me like a song, and it will introduce new readers to a brave woman who was also a superb poet and musician. This is a life steeped in the American West, from her Maidu heritage to her many jobs, her journeys, her loves. The spare eloquence of her prose, its sensory details laid in with painterly care, together with her colorful life, make This Music a book I will never forget, just as I will never forget Janice’s beautiful way of listening to the world.”—David Mason, Colorado poet laureate 2010-14, and author of Cold Fire
“In this beautifully constructed memoir each section moves the story of Janice’s life forward with the lyrical intensity of a prose poem. Although I loved her as a poet and musician for the last four decades of her life, I will treasure the ways in which her Maidu heritage and deep love of the American West shine through this new book.”— Judith Barrington, author of Virginia’s Apple: Collected Memoirs
“This Music is a cartography of desire; of the roads ventured by a young queer mixed-blood ‘Indian’ girl, making a world for herself where none before existed. Here, the lover of women and song comes of age and ages into a free life never promised. It is a poetic portrait of place, crafted by its time and Gould writes in a register that gives it voice, movement and visionary insight.”—Cherríe Moraga, author of Native Country of the Heart
“Reading this book is a bit like being on a road trip through Janice’s life. She drives us all over California. She takes us to Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington. We even sail to Tomales Bay and hitchhike to Connecticut. But this is a book of journeys both outward and inward. Janice is the one person I’ve known whose brilliance was matched by their humility. Both emerge in this wonderful book, itself a magical mode of music.”—Dean Rader, co-editor with Janice Gould of Speak To Me Words: Essays on Contemporary American Indian Poetry
“This Music is a notable autobiographical prose/poem account of the life of Janice Gould, a lesbian Concow Maidu famed for her poetry and participation in Indigenous and Queer/Women of Color publications of the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. It covers the memories and milestones of Gould’s life, including: stories of her Concow Maidu grandmother and mother; her own birth and childhood; gender and sexuality as a young and adult butch lesbian daughter of a transgender woman father; life with different girlfriends; education and poetry; musical performances; working-class and writing jobs; travel and life in San Diego, Berkeley, Denver, Portland, and Tucson; the passing of parents, and a final contemplation on nature. It is a well-rounded account of a life re-edited after the passing of its author Janice Gould by experts in Women’s Literature and Native American Literature. This book should be essential reading for it’s combination of Native Californian, lesbian, poetic prose, and photographic insights.”—Gabriel Estrada, author of Queer Indigenous Cinemas: Sovereign Genders from Seven Directions
