Tedlock was a cofounder of ethnopoetics in the 1960s, along with Jerome Rothenberg. Early elements of ethnopoetics can be seen in Tedlock's writing through his focus on including clear performative elements in the traditional stories of the Zuni people to preserve their authentic meanings.

Along with working with texts of the Zuni people, Tedlock was known for his focus on Mayan language and culture. His most famous work is the translation of Popul Vuh, which entails the creation story of the Mayans. An excerpt from Popul Vuh is included in the Preludium of The Serpent and the Fire (12-15).

The form of the essay “Tell It Like It's Right in Front of You,” by Dennis Tedlock, appears to be a lecture, as there are asides placed throughout the writing that imply Tedlock is interacting directly with an audience, including Jerome Rothenberg himself. This concept is illustrated clearly in the first few lines:

Speaker [walking up to Jerome Rothenberg, at the front of the room]: My father, my child ∙ how have you been passing the days?

J.R. [to the speaker]: Happily, my father, my child (367).

Along with showing a connection between the audience and speaker, Tedlock seemingly also uses these asides to help readers imagine what this lecture would look like in person. There are many instances where he adds gestures to emphasize a point, which would be unknown to the audience solely viewing the version of the work included in Symposium of the Whole: A Range of Discourse Toward an Ethnopoetics without clear cues. An example of this stylistic choice is made when Tedlock describes a drawing he studied in the past at a fifteenth century archaeological site: “One of the drawings ∙ showed ∙ an old lady sitting down on the ground ∙ with a big black [cupping hands] round-bottomed pot in front of her over a fire ∙ she was stirring it [hand as if grasping something] with a handful of something or other . . .” (368).

In this essay, Tedlock's goal is to express the importance of oral narration in Indian stories, particularly those of the Zuni People. He explains that translation and transcription alone cannot tell a story, as writing a story down is not the same as picturing it and bringing it to life. Tedlock came to this realization while working on a transcription and translation, when asked by his partner, “When I tell these stories ∙ do you picture it? ∙ or do you just write it down (371). It was at that moment he recognized that he was only writing the sentences down, instead of interacting with the story in the moment.

He goes on to explain the most important elements of telling traditional Indian stories:

1. Having a sense of where the story is taking place.
2. Setting up the story in the present: where you are.
3. Acknowledging a connection to the past.
4. Figuring out how the story should be spoken aloud.

Tedlock describes the importance of providing the audience with directions in the story to establish where it is taking place:

Even if you're telling it in Milwaukee ∙ you've at least got ∙ the directions.

And you always have to know before you can tell one of these stories ∙ which way east is.

It's over there [gestures toward the east].

So that you can at least say ∙ He went over to the east, He went over to the south, and so on (371).

__Tedlock describes how a speaker can bring a story into the present, placing the audience within the events that transpire: __

The narrator says ∙ It was a morning very much like this one.

This one [indicates the spot where he is standing].

It was a night like this one, It was about this time of winter, there was a little bit of snow left on the ground (372).

• Tedlock also includes a description of how to incorporate accidents into a story, such as adding a dramatic pause at a tense part of the plot when a loud noise is heard.

Tedlock explains the importance of not being tricked into storing history away but being conscious of the past through the oral medium, combining it with the present through action:

. . . every time they [the Zuni people] eat . . . they take a little bit of meat, a little bit of bread ∙ they sacrifice it to the fire ∙ they say ∙ Nanaakwe itonaawe∙ which means, Grandfatherly people, eat, again meaning ∙ all those who are old enough to be grandfathers . . .

So ∙ in one way or another they manage to ∙ live constantly ∙ in the presence of the past (375).

__Tedlock describes the elements of oral performance that go into bringing a story to life. Many of these elements contain a varied form of writing that alert the speaker to alter their voice: __

This means ∙ that ∙ when you listen to those stories ∙ figuring out how to translate them ∙ how to tell them in English ∙ you have to notice that ∙ when a person speaks ∙ as opposed to writing ∙ he can [whispering] whisper or SHOUT ∙ he can build up to a cresCENDO ∙ he can insert a long ∙ silence.

He can stretch out a word very lo —– ng ∙ he can go up like this, he can go ∙ [continuously raising the voice] aaaaaaAAH ∙ when something in the story goes up . . . (376).

After reviewing the elements of telling traditional Indian stories, Tedlock shares one of these stories with the audience called A Mural with No Wall. The story focuses on dancers who impersonate Shumeekuli, spirit beings in Zuni culture. The dancer dressed as the White Shumeekuli goes crazy and runs away from the dance until he is later caught by the others. When the dancers try to unmask him, the mask sticks to his face and some skin comes off with it. This process eventually repeats with another dancer, who meets the same fate. From this tale, it is said that “when someone comes into the Yayya dance as the White Shumeekuli . . . something will inevitably happen to his mind,” repesenting the spirt taking over the human (380). Tedlock ends the story by saying that is what caused the White Shumeekuli to become feared.

As Tedlock shares this story, he applies all of the previous elements he discusses on storyelling:

1. He provides the audience with a sense of direction: “Kachina's live other there [indicates west] ∙ but the Shumeekuli live over here, to the east [indicates east] (378).
2. He connects the story to the present: “I've chosen this particular story because ∙ this is one that can be told at any time of year . . . that can be told at any day or night ∙ and whether there are snakes around or not” (378).
3. He acknowledges the past: “Well then ∙ there were villagers at Hawikku ∙ there were villagers at Gypsum Place ∙ there villagers were at Wind Place ∙ there were villagers ∙ all around ∙ and the priest ∙ there at Gypsum Place ∙ spoke of having a Yaaya, a Yaaya dance” (379).
4. He applies the elements of poetry to bring the performance to life: [chanting] The——–re goes our white Shu ——– meekuli running a — wa ——–y whoever is out there please help us ∙ CATCH HIM FOR US (379). → The version of this quote in Symposium of the Whole provides the stylistic choice of slanted letters as well.