After and Before the Lightning (Sun Tracks, Vol 28) (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The newest volume in Arizona's Sun Tracks series of American Indian literature is a collection of poems and prose pieces by Acoma Indian poet Ortiz (Woven Stone). The book was written during a long South Dakota winter spent on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation. Ortiz comments on this often harsh encounter with nature in pieces that alternately reach for the ineffable and record the mundane. He notes in his preface, "I felt like I was putting together a map of where I was in the cosmos." Like the weather, his words can be cool and crisp. There is a tendency to pass into coldness and abstraction, though a physical detail can surface as equally compelling (or more so). The key to Ortiz's work is the idea of process, which unites the worlds of thought and nature-the one a sequence of ideas, the other a series of moments. Process also accounts for his obsession with time, the link between "lightyears" and "prairie": "These eons and vastness make sense./ Lightyears and prairie cosmos know."
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Written in journal format complete with dates, Ortiz's new collection takes the reader through a South Dakota winter, starting in mid-November when the snow is just beginning to fall and finishing in late March after a long season spent shivering. Ortiz is marvelously adept at capturing the moody stages of cabin fever, wonder for the endurance of the land, and the quiet humility of a semiforeign culture. Written while he lived on the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation, the book chronicles both nature and the resilience of the Lakota people. Although you might think the constant weather references would become tedious, they instead establish a soothing rhythm during a season when the weather is not merely unforgettable but potentially deadly. Ortiz provides a fascinating glimpse into a world of frozen laundry, prairie gumbo, and blue dawns, and although he admits the time recorded may have contained the darkest moments of his life, this collection frequently shines. Elizabeth Gunderson

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 127 pages
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press (July 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816514232
• ISBN-13: 978-0816514236
• Product Dimensions: 127 x 9 x 6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,622,297 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)