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In Mi'kmaq Country: Selected Poems & Stories
Alice Azure's first book of poetry, drawn from her wide-ranging Mi'kmaq world, provides us with a rich array of finely honed pieces. Her view encompasses people and human behavior, the natural world and its varied ways, the forces seen and unseen, the very Cosmos. This is a fine feast, especially satisfying for those disposed to think, reflect and act on behalf of understanding, justice and harmony.
79 pages, Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 2007
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November 22, 2011
By Trace A DeMeyer
In this beautiful debut work, In Mi’kmaq Country: Selected Poems and Stories, Alice M. Azure’s words are as polished as sea glass and as rare and unique. Each poem the Mi’kmaq poet writes shines in depth, clarity and meaning.
In three deeply personal essays, it feels like a conversation with Azure, a gift too few writers accomplish.
In the poem, “Walking In the Rain… for Joan Williams Azure,” she muses, “A quarter century has passed, yet your written words upon this coffee-stained cardboard scrap, liven my spirit with new meaning: Ka Mi Ya Nu Sa’qua – Walking in the Rain – use this name in the fall, after the prayer feast, so it will be strong…” Years pass, she writes, before she owns the name’s power and becomes Walking in the Rain.
Despite a hearing disability, Azure realized she didn’t need ears to hear spirit and cleverly describes the invisibles who still communicate in her essay “A Round Dance Song.” On every page, Azure shows remarkable insight and honesty, as remarkable as the voices and memories she shares in this collection.
Just 79 pages, readers will enjoy the variety in this debut work and will only wish there was more to savor.
In Mi’kmaq Country: Selected poems and stories, Alice M. Azure, Albatross Press, 2007, $15.00, ISBN: 978-0-9663371-1-2. Available at www.amazon.com or from author at email: speelya@aol.com.
Trace A. DeMeyer, Cherokee-Shawnee, is the author of ONE SMALL SACRIFICE: Lost Children of the Indian Adoption Projects (2010), available on lulu.com. She is a contributor and book reviewer at News from Indian Country and lives in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Her email: tracedemeyer@yahoo.com.
In this beautiful debut work, In Mi’kmaq Country: Selected Poems and Stories, Alice M. Azure’s words are as polished as sea glass and as rare and unique. Each poem the Mi’kmaq poet writes shines in depth, clarity and meaning.
In three deeply personal essays, it feels like a conversation with Azure, a gift too few writers accomplish.
In the poem, “Walking In the Rain… for Joan Williams Azure,” she muses, “A quarter century has passed, yet your written words upon this coffee-stained cardboard scrap, liven my spirit with new meaning: Ka Mi Ya Nu Sa’qua – Walking in the Rain – use this name in the fall, after the prayer feast, so it will be strong…” Years pass, she writes, before she owns the name’s power and becomes Walking in the Rain.
Despite a hearing disability, Azure realized she didn’t need ears to hear spirit and cleverly describes the invisibles who still communicate in her essay “A Round Dance Song.” On every page, Azure shows remarkable insight and honesty, as remarkable as the voices and memories she shares in this collection.
Just 79 pages, readers will enjoy the variety in this debut work and will only wish there was more to savor.
In Mi’kmaq Country: Selected poems and stories, Alice M. Azure, Albatross Press, 2007, $15.00, ISBN: 978-0-9663371-1-2. Available at www.amazon.com or from author at email: speelya@aol.com.
Trace A. DeMeyer, Cherokee-Shawnee, is the author of ONE SMALL SACRIFICE: Lost Children of the Indian Adoption Projects (2010), available on lulu.com. She is a contributor and book reviewer at News from Indian Country and lives in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Her email: tracedemeyer@yahoo.com.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review