Passive Voice by Laura Da' (grades 1-3)

“Passive Voice” by Laura Da’ uses the grammatical idea of the passive voice to discuss the suffering of an Indigenous village, where the inhabitants are acted upon by violence or conflict. The author, Da’, is both a poet and a teacher, winning awards like the 2016 American Book Award and producing the Tecumseh Motel chapbook and the collection Instruments of True Measure. In her own words, Da’ walks “a parallel path through life as a citizen of many nations,” drawing inspiration from her background as a member of the Eastern Shawnee of Oklahoma, the Seneca, and the Miami.