Burn by Morgan Talty

Set on the Panawahpskek Nation reserve in Maine, Burn is the opening story in Morgan Talty’s highly acclaimed short story collection, Night of the Living Rez. At just five pages, it’s super short, and not a whole lot happens. Yet, from what I can tell so far, it does a good job of setting the darkly humorous tone that carries throughout many of the other stories that follow. 

In this story, we meet the narrator, Dee, who finds his buddy Fellis lying near a frozen lake, unable to get up. Why? Because he got blackout drunk, passed out, and now his hair is literally frozen to the ice.  But the only way to free him without risking frostbite (or worse) is for Dee to cut Fellis’s hair. Since long hair holds cultural significance in many Native communities, this is not a great scenario to be in. Later, as they’re trying to score drugs and get high (because what else is there to do on the rez), Fellis insists that they burn the hair or they might be cursed: “Don’t want spirits after us.”

I’ve been on a big Sherman Alexie kick this year, so it’s hard not to draw some comparisons. Talty’s got that same raw, biting humor and the reservation setting is similar, but it doesn’t feel like an exact replica. This is a very small sample size to make any bold claims but there is definitely lots of potential here. If anything, it’s like he is picking up where Alexie left off while finding his own distinct voice and literary style in the process.