Cook-Lynn criticized those who make tenuous claims to Native/Indigenous ancestry with the purpose of advancing their own careers, and described such claimants with no community connections as "tribeless".
Prior to receiving her doctorate, Cook-Lynn was selected as a National Endowment for the Humanities fellow and studied in 1976 at Stanford University.
Cook-Lynn taught at multiple high schools in New Mexico and South Dakota, and has been a visiting professor at University of California Davis.
[4][5] In her book, You May Consider Speaking About Your Art, Cook-Lynn states that the contemporary poet is someone who must "consecrate history and event, survival and joy and sorrow, the significance of ancestors and the unborn.
[3] Cook-Lynn opposed the presidency of Donald Trump and the governorship of Kristi Noem, accusing the SDGOP of holding a "regime" over the state and restricting peoples rights in terms of assembly, speech, and access to abortion procedures.
Cook-Lynn has said that certain tribes with more cordial relations with the Federal Government, such as those in Oklahoma, Montana and Idaho, are "Vichy Indians," referring to Occupied France during World War II and the words of Oglala Lakota activist Russell Means.
Kevin De Ornellas, "'The Power of Horses' and Other Stories", in Jennifer McClinton-Temple and Alan Velie, eds, Encyclopedia of American Indian Literature (New York: facts on File, 2007), pp.