Poetry. Native American Studies. THE SUMMER OF BLACK WIDOWS presents poetry that has continued to grow in power, complexity, and vision. According to reviewer James R. Kincaid, Mr. Alexie’s is one of the major lyric voices of our time, and the many honors and an international following of readers from his poems, stories, and novels proves the claim. Chris Faatz from The Nation agrees, calling Alexie a young writer who is taking the literary world by storm…a superb chronicler of the Native American experience…he is a master of language, writing beautifully, unsparingly and straight to the heart.