Combining the rich imagery of her Indian heritage with the wisdom of Native female spirituality, Linda Hogan’s new collection of stunningly beautiful poems is a tonic for modern times. This is a book about skin: "how wounds healed/ from inside themselves/ how life stands up in skin/ if not by magic." It is a book about the suffering of the skin: for example of hollow bamboo that tells a story not only of nature's beauty, but also of human cruelty--torture by whipping. But it is also about the potential for healing and rebirth: the blood of Hogan's Chickasaw ancestors is "a map of the road between us." Hogan's short lines of unembellished free verse rely primarily on striking imagery, recurring metaphors, and strong statement: "The whale is the thick house of yesterday/ in red waters." Although at times the reachings in these ambitious poems fall short of the mark, Hogan writes movingly about human possibilities and limitations, refusing to differentiate between body and spirit. Her poems pursue "the hot barefoot dance/ that burns your feet/ but you can't stop/ trading gifts/ with the land." Recommended for poetry collections. - Ellen Kaufman, Dewey Ballantine Law Lib., New York Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. Praise for The Book of Medicines “Linda Hogan’s poetry has always been a medicine of sort. . . . These poems in particular cross over to speak for us in the shining world. They bring back words for healing, the distilled truth of all theses stories that are killing us with tears and laughter.” —Joy Harjo “Linda Hogan’s vision is breathtaking: the embryonic fingers of a fetal whale, the imperial walk of a raven, the torn-cloth dresses of her Chickasaw ancestors, are distilled in these pages into a critique of human survival. The Book of Medicines feels like a gift from the earth’s entire past to the present moment.” —Barbara Kingsolver “Hogan’s poetry is spare, elemental and direct, with a tremendous evocative force of imagery. . . . Hogan has come into her own as an artist.” — Publishers Weekly A major American writer and the recipient of the 2007 Mountains and Plains Booksellers Spirit of the West Literary Achievement Award, Linda Hogan is a Chickasaw poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, teacher, and activist who has spent most of her life in Oklahoma and Colorado. Her fiction has garnered many honors, including a Pulitzer Prize nomination and her poetry collections have received the American Book Award, Colorado Book Award, and a National Book Critics Circle nomination. A volunteer and consultant for wildlife rehabilitation and endangered species programs, Hogan has also published essays with the Nature Conservancy and Sierra Club. Used Book in Good Condition