While Silko, Momaday, and Welch are the most prominent contemporary Native writers--in no small measure because all write novels which are both more profitable and more popular than poetry or short stories--other Indian writers have also gained distinction, though perhaps in smaller circles. One of these other writers has certainly been Simon Ortiz, Acoma poet and fiction writer. His associations with Silko and Momaday, as well as with other Native American writers such as the poet Joy Harjo, his former wife, are well-known. Furthermore, Simon Ortiz has always been articulate about those elemental concepts of language, form, theme, and value on which people like Momaday, Silko, Harjo, and others have come to agree. He is, then, an extremely important writer to understand. -- Pg. 7.