Songs, Blood Deep

"The poems are quiet and powerful, understated and deeply moving.”—Carter Revard, author of How the Songs Come Down: New & Selected Poems

What flows deep from the heart songs ofthese poems is Gwen Westerman's proud and profound engagement with andtransmission of closely held cultural values of the Dakota people.Originating from the prairies of the Great Plains, this is acollection that affirms a passion for family, community, and theenvironment. Westerman draws upon both English and the Dakotalanguage to celebrate the survival of her people and articulate theconflicts of the past and present, so that an enriched future willendure. The long opening poem reclaims the Mississippi River as a sacred resource, "In the beginning/de Dakota Makoce/this was a Dakota place./The water was pure." Historicalmisinformation about the First Peoples is unmasked, the record setstraight apart from how explorers and conquering armies have wronglyportrayed the past. Herein life-affirming words areconveyed from grandmother, to mother, to children and offered as agift to the reader, "This is my give-away--to touch what is good in you/with words your heart can hear."