Songs for Discharming

By Denise Sweet.  The poems of Denise Sweet are sung in the voice of a Native American woman who knows two worlds, that of here Anishinabe people and that of modern non-Indian America.  Whether she is speaking of the Native spirit that has endured five hundred hard years of colonialism, a discussion with her mother, or the flow of life on White Earth reservation, clarity, lyricism and courage are equally balanced in her poems. Winner of the 1995 North American Native Author's First book Award for poetry.  Though her subjects vary from a visit to the mission at White Earth to parking a car, Denise Sweet brings a freshness to each. The poems leave markers where they have touched us, places we will return to to remember the startling beauty of a phrase, the quiet wisdom of a story, the good humor of our poet companion. She carries us to the brink of discover; her words push us over.

64 pages    Paperback  $12.95