Review by Booklist Review
Over the course of his 40-year career, poet and novelist Young Bear has been recognized for his outstanding contributions to Native American literature. As a member of the Meskwaki settlement in Iowa, Young Bear expresses feelings of isolation and loss shared by many Americans in the idiosyncratic vernacular of his tribal heritage. This comprehensive edition includes three complete collections Winter of the Salamander (1978), The Invisible Musician (1990), and The Rock Island Hiking Club (2001) as well as new work. Throughout, Young Bear's poetic voice and subject matter evolve, from his early songs of life and celebration (it was windy that day and spider webs / were in the air offering rides to the river) to mid-career reflections on wartime service (All I could think of / was the absence of my name / on a distant black rock.) to later narrative forms, in which the character, Edgar Bearchild, assumes center spotlight. Young Bear's new work includes concrete poems, which take the physical shape of their subjects, and provide a capstone to this volume. Highly recommended for aficionados of American poetry.--Báez, Diego Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Young Bear, a Meskwaki Native American, gathers his three previous releases and introduces a set of new poems in a volume that is predominantly concerned with the natural world and Native ritual beliefs. The book's tone alternates between reverential and ominous: "there are plants breathing wisdom," the land is "slender with meanings," and the sun is seen "ripping its face apart/ and dividing the skin to the eager crows." Elders figure throughout, including one who speaks to the recently deceased in order to "hand them/ their last dream." Another elder's chance encounter with Marilyn Monroe is elevated to mythological status over years of repetition. Young Bear exhibits a jadedness regarding alcoholism, violence, and corrupt community politics, as well as justifiable vitriol for the disregard to nature exhibited by the local whites with their "17th century/ instincts" of exploitation. His new material deals heavily in psychic visions, which were hinted at in earlier poems: one speaker intuits clues about grisly crimes while seated in an enchanted recliner, while another receives information about a missing airplane directly from his kidney. Some elements of Meskwaki tradition may seem inscrutable to newcomers. There is a distinct pleasure in watching Young Bear's work mature and grow more playful over the arc of his career. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
