From Publishers Weekly
Intense, often mythological images as well as domestic, reflective, introspective visions mark Erdrich's poems. "Evocative and explicit, this collection . . . explores the often mingled spiritualities of her dual Catholic and Native American heritage," PW observed.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
This rich book will attract Erdrich fans. Like Jacklight ( LJ 2/1/84), her first book of poems, it has tales of Potchikoo, a Chippewa Trickster, and of Mary Kroger, a butcher's wife. In the complex and masterful "Hydra," a poem written during pregnancy, Erdrich addresses both the mythical serpent and her unborn child--"Blessed one, beating your tail across heaven,/ uncoiling through the length of my life"--and compares herself to both Mary and Eve. Writing "Snake of hard hours, you are my poetry," she concludes, like Eve, that its place is "at my ear." As in a sequence on saints and sacraments, Erdrich here appropriates and transforms the Catholic theology learned as a child. A graceful, deeply metaphoric sequence on gardening, childrearing, and marriage concludes the book. Highly recommended.
- Kathleen Norris, Lemmon Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
