Manifestation Wolverine: The Collected Poetry of Ray Young Bear
A collected volume of Ray Young Bear's poetry, grounded in Meskwaki tradition, nature, violence, and memory.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Open Road Media
- Published
- 2015-10-27
- Pages
- 456 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 13.34 x 2.54 x 20.32 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9781504014151
- ISBN-10
- 9781504014151
- Price
- 4731 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Biographies & Memoirs
The definitive collection from a groundbreaking Native American poet whose work traces the fault lines between past and present, real and surreal, comedy and tragedy to unveil a transcendent new vision of the world Hailed by the Bloomsbury Review as “the nation’s foremost contemporary Native American poet” and by Sherman Alexie as “the best poet in Indian Country,” Ray Young Bear draws on ancient Meskwaki tradition and modern popular culture to create poems that provoke, astound, and heal. This indispensable volume, which contains three previously published collections— Winter of the Salamander (1979), The Invisible Musician (1990), and The Rock Island Hiking Club (2001)—as well as Manifestation Wolverine , a brilliant series of new pieces inspired by animistic beliefs, a Lazy-Boy recliner, and the word songs Young Bear sang to his children, is a testament to the singularity of the poet’s talent and the astonishing range of his voice.
Ray Young Bear is a lifetime resident of the Meskwaki Settlement in central Iowa. His poems have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, including Virginia Quarterly Review , New Letters , Prairie Schooner , the Iowa Review , the American Poetry Review , and the Best American Poetry , and have been collected into three books: Winter of the Salamander (1980), The Invisible Musician (1990), and The Rock Island Hiking Club (2001). He also wrote Black Eagle Child: The Facepaint Narratives (1995), a novel combining prose and poetry that was heralded by the New York Times as “magnificent.” Its sequel, Remnants of the First Earth (1998), won the Ruth Suckow Award as an outstanding work of fiction about Iowa. The recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Ray Young Bear has taught creative writing and Native American literature at numerous schools across the United States, including the University of Iowa and the Institute of American Indian Arts. A singer as well as an author, Young Bear is a cofounder of the Woodland Singers & Dancers, which performs contemporary and traditional tribal dances throughout the country.
Reviews
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An outstanding collection of modern American poetry
Manifestation Wolverine is a wonderful book of poetry and I mean that in the original sense of the word, full of wonder. Ray Young Bear’s words paint beautiful, visual snap shots of his life and world. Young Bear’s poetry illustrates many of the issues facing Native Americans today. However, he does not focus on just the sadness. The heart of his work beats in time with the natural world that we all share but sometimes, fail to notice. His is a world touched by both tragedy and hope viewed through the lens of Native American folklore and mythology. You probably won’t understand many of these references unless you are well-versed in the tribal lore and stories he weaves in and out of his poems but that does not matter all that much. The words themselves stand alone and many of the poems read like lyrical fables. This is not to say that the average reader will not be able to relate to the poetry. “Morning-Water Train Woman” is a poem that deals with something we all have in common. The poet shows us a death that happens on a railroad track and a sister that is suicidal thereafter. How he shows us this relies so much on the beauty of nature around us and our connection to it that Young Bear manages to soften the blow of this tragedy and others and turn these events into something mythic and important. The author is keenly aware that this connection to nature and the spirit world it manifests is something we are in danger of losing. In “Coming Back Home”, the poet gives us another memory - that of his Grandfather’s reaction to someone trying to record the old songs and dances and the magic that is lost in the process. Young Bear remembers this magic best for us all in poems like “For You, a Handful of the Greatest Gift” where taking a picture of a muskrat recalls the creation of the Earth and reminds us all of the great gift we all share.
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A unique and moving spiritual collection.
The poems of Ray Young Bear have long been a source of solace & inspiration for me. This book will be appreciated by anyone who enjoys exposure to a way of thinking, speaking, listening and understanding living in this world in a way that is both outside the mainstream, yet universally applicable to us all. I did not read cover to cover. I pick it up and read parts as I feel the need. I did notice that "Four songs of Life" is slightly different from previous printings. I read & re-read those over and over. So grateful for this author. Thank you, Ray Young Bear.