Flood Song
"Sherwin Bitsui's new poetry collection, Flood Song—a sprawling, panoramic journey through landscape, time, and cultures—is well worth the ride."—Poets & Writers\ “Bitsui’s poetry is elegant, probative, and original. His vision connects worlds.”—New Mexico Magazine\ “His images can tilt on the side of surrealism, yet his work can be compellingly accessible.”—Arizona Daily Star\ “Sherwin Bitsui sees violent beauty in the American landscape. There are junipers, black ants, axes, and cities...
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Sherwin Bitsui is a young Diné Navajo poet drawing on traditional song, storytelling, and surrealistic poetics.Publishers WeeklyThis second book by Bitsui (Shapeshift) comprises a sequence of untitled fragmentary lyrics, which, taken together, form a long poem that is part stream-of-consciousness road movie of the Southwest and part visionary investigation of personal memory. In it, Bitsui attempts to extend and break with the traditions of Native American writing. Bitsui's is a world in which one's connection to the land is inevitably interrupted by centuries of merciless treatment and by the trappings of modern life. In one poem he laments, “You think you can return to that place/ where your mother held her sleeves above the rising tides/ saying, 'We are here again/ on the road covered with television snow; we are here again/ the song has thudded.' ” Throughout, Bitsui straddles borders between a long history and postmodern aesthetics: “the final chapter of this one-room story/ smells disfigured.” This is a powerful collection from a promising young poet. (Nov.)
\ Library Journal"I bite my eyes shut between these songs" says Bitsui in the first poem in this harsh and beautiful collection. What follows is intently imagined poetry, visceral, imagistic, sometimes angry, always emotionally rapt, that explores Bitsui's Native heritage and the landscape of the American West. These poems hit you in the face, but you owe it to yourself not to duck.\ \ \ \ \ Publishers WeeklyThis second book by Bitsui (Shapeshift) comprises a sequence of untitled fragmentary lyrics, which, taken together, form a long poem that is part stream-of-consciousness road movie of the Southwest and part visionary investigation of personal memory. In it, Bitsui attempts to extend and break with the traditions of Native American writing. Bitsui's is a world in which one's connection to the land is inevitably interrupted by centuries of merciless treatment and by the trappings of modern life. In one poem he laments, “You think you can return to that place/ where your mother held her sleeves above the rising tides/ saying, 'We are here again/ on the road covered with television snow; we are here again/ the song has thudded.' ” Throughout, Bitsui straddles borders between a long history and postmodern aesthetics: “the final chapter of this one-room story/ smells disfigured.” This is a powerful collection from a promising young poet. (Nov.)\ \ \ Library JournalPoets in general seek to create an oeuvre defined more by its aesthetic merits than its affiliation with a certain culture or heritage, and that's what Bitsui (Shapeshift) is striving admiringly to do here. His new book-length work uses his Native American heritage and experience as a lightning rod for writing poetry that goes beyond provincialism to create a diverse and rich poetic landscape. His poetry is seeded with all the peculiarities of Native tales of love and loss as well as with modern life issues. Bitsui juxtaposes the abstract with the physical in condensed, lively language. He also incorporates photographic technique to create fast, apocalyptic scenes: "a twig yanked from the nervous eye of a dying bull." The passage from surreal images to more realistic ones is transparent and smooth: "What happened when gunfire blew into their speech/ and left one language hanging by a nail" and "the mud-covered hooves of drought/ kicking at the rain-stained earth." VERDICT Bitsui's poetry returns things to their basic elements and voice in a flowing language rife with illuminating images. A great reading experience for those who like serious and innovative poetry.—Sadiq Alkoriji, South Regional Lib., Broward Cty., FL\ \
