Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars
CROWWOMAN & MUDGIRL written by VictoriaSelene Skye Deme as reviewed by Nancy Silveria, September 8, 2009
Whether you're a man or a woman, rich, poor, young, old, have seen the world, or have never ventured from your hometown, if you have never read the words of VictoriaSelene Skye Deme then you are missing something significant. You are living in the equivalent of never tasting chocolate melting in your mouth, never feeling the ocean swell around you, never awakening to the silent hush of snowfall, or never feeling the rush of wind through your hair as you run through a field of poppies. She is a universal talent who blends the magic of myth with the bright light of reality. Her literary skills paint a vivid and unique world for her readers, as she weaves her tales and poetry in a lyrical web of silk for the human senses.
CROWWOMAN & MUDGIRL is a 62-page book of 28 poems, which capture Selene's distinct flavor of raw humanity mingled with the myths and the wolves that weaned her childhood soul. She is honest in both the beauty and the beast that is mankind.
From the first line of her opening poem MUD AND PEARLS, "I've crawled the earth on belly scaled with every whisper from your mouth", you feel her personal touch of magic that wraps you up and carries you along her journey.
The first time I read this book, I was mesmerized with the intricate lacing of each tale. While the book sings an unforgettably unique song, each poem lingers in its own melody.
From the strength of self in DREARY SUMMER DAY, to the dark gothic web of LEENAITH (THE SILVER WOMAN), to her beautiful and simple definition in MUDGIRL you will discover her true love for language. Selene's love of using the simplest yet most beautiful words and stringing them together to weave visions of colors no one has named yet defines her great talent. When she combines that talent with her life, her myths, and her visions to introduce us to the likes of the DANCING CHILD, THE ROSEBRIDE, THE OLD BROWN MAN, and the CITY INDIANS she gives us the gift that is CROWWOMAN & MUDGIRL.
One has only to read the last poem, RENEWED THE MONSTER, to comprehend that when VictoriaSelene Skye Deme gave us the gift of CROWWOMAN & MUDGIRL, she willingly gave us a piece of herself.
If you haven't read this book, you haven't yet begun to breathe....
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Small Book, Big Poetry, July 15, 2009
Victoria Selene Skye Deme is, I believe, the illegitimate love child of Sylvia Plath, Barbara G. Walker (who wrote the wonderful Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets) and American Indian writer Louise Erdrich. CrowWoman and Mudgirl is an all-too-brief collection of poems steeped in myth and folklore. The theme, generally, is the reconciliation of the age-old dichotomy of feminine archetypes: is a woman a sweet-faced angel, or a raging bitch-goddess? In Skye Deme's poems, she is daughter, lover, monster, and more. These are big poems for such a tiny book, and deeply satisfying. My personal favorite is "Dreary Summer Day." What sounds like something perfectly mundane is actually a beautifully spun vampire tale.
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