Flood Song

This collection was challenging as HECK, but so worth it ultimately. It's one I definitely want to go back to--it was my first venture back into poetry in a long time, and it was really a challenge to parse. Bitsui's poems are so full of images that it is borderline overwhelming and can be hard to follow at times, but it definitely sweeps you along even as it also jars you out of your comfort zone. The last two poems especially are so beautiful and shattering and hopeful and I really loved them. I recommend reading this but giving it a lot of time to sit with.

A stunning book. A selection from this book was featured on Poetry Daily and I was intrigued by the economy, compression and use of language. Still, you don't imagine that anyone could maintain such virtuosity for seventy pages. Wrong. I am a voracious reader of modern poetry; this book stunned me. Surprising nouns and verbs juxtaposed in surprising ways at every turn. The commonplace constantly elevated to the extraordinary. The everyday brutality of fact, as it presents itself in nature, appreciated for its kaleidoscopic thusness. And I read the whole book (in one sitting) before I discovered that the cover illustration was painted by the poet as well. Rarely have I seen a better marriage of cover and content. The painting tells you everything you need to know in terms of form, color and energy--and all the rest--about the poetry. The people at Copper Canyon have come through again, bless them. All that and, if the title (Flood Song) and the arrangement of the work throughout the book (such intoxicating celebration of negative space) mean anything, it is one poem. No titles. No numbers. No pretension whatsoever. The words working closely with the space to create a single arc of meaning. One poem. It is a rare thing for a poet to be so comfortable with telling you all there is to know about himself. Sherwin Bitsui does that here. Ultimately, that's poetry.

great

Sherwin Bitsui's voice is so beautiful and strong force not only among current Native American writers, but among the national collection of active poets. I would recommend this book to anyone with a Native American background or anyone who is interested in the perspective.

Very captivating reading. Highly recommend it.

Needed for class, well written

I picked this book up from library, when I came across it while doing research on Navajo. Turns out that this is some my favorite writing style for poetry. Powerful confusing lines, Not sure the meaning but metaphor surreal.Bitsui non-titled poems touches on myth, living and lifestyle of the Navajo. He writes with imaginative lines. Flood Song is a typhoon of words that over-powers your mind with amazement. You will be reading the lines over and over again. Nodding your head at the beauty of junipers, black ants, axes, sweat and tears behind this cover. SEE MY QUOTES!!!"The storm lying outside its fetal shellfolds back its antelope earsand hears its heart pounding through powdery earthunderneath dancers flecking dust from their ankles to thunder into rain.""Seeing into those eyesyou uncoil their telephone wires,gather their inaudible lions with plastic forks,tongue their salty ribbons,and untie their weedy stems from your prickly fingers."I could quote so much more from Flood Song, but read the words yourself. Listen to beauty in your head as you re-read each line that Bitsui scribbles.

I come back to this poem often. It drips. Echoes. Imprints. It sings a panorama of peripheral, indigenous vision. A true experience.