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Summary
Summary
Little Big Bully begins with a question asked of a collective and troubled we - how did we come to this? In answer, this book offers personal myth, American and Native American contexts, and allegories driven by women's resistance to narcissists, stalkers, and harassers. These poems are immediate, personal, political, cultural, even futuristic object lessons.
Author Notes
Heid E. Erdrich is the author of seven collections of poetry. Her writing has won fellowships and awards from the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Bush Foundation, the Loft Literary Center, and First People's Fund, and she has twice won a Minnesota Book Award for poetry. She was also the editor of the 2018 anthology New Poets of Native Nations , which was the recipient of an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation and a Midwest Booksellers Choice Award. Erdrich works as a visual arts curator and collaborator, and as an educator. She teaches in the low-residency MFA creative writing program of Augsburg University and is the 2019 distinguished visiting professor in the liberal arts at the University of Minnesota, Morris. Erdrich grew up in Wahpeton, North Dakota, and is Ojibwe enrolled at Turtle Mountain. She lives in Minneapolis.
Reviews (2)
Booklist Review
In Erdrich's fully alive poems, the speakers refuse to turn away from cruel truths, instead actively investigating and resisting attempts to disguise or hide them. As a Native American, as a woman, Erdrich knows how oppressors operate, preying on the seemingly weak or quiet ones, shouting louder and pushing hardest. She tackles different forms of bullying in these timely poems by interweaving the personal, public, and cultural. "Zeno's Indians" is particularly prescient in light of George Floyd's brutal murder when it states, "Minnesotans can be oppressively polite (Minnesota Nice) and racially despairing." Erdrich's experiments with language and repetition often produce chant- and rap-like rhythms that evoke rapid and repeated gunfire. Erdrich sees through false promises and gestures, writing "inside every handshake is a fist." Our current political and social landscape has reawakened cultural and racial traumas as well as memories of personal violation and abuse. This fierce truth-speaker will not stand down or stay silent. Erdrich is willing to reopen every wound with purpose, to shine a bright light into the darkest corner. She recreates real and painful scenes to make us bear witness, as if viewing body-camera video that does not lie.
Library Journal Review
Whatever she is addressing, Erdrich (Curator of Ephemera at the New Museum for Archaic Media), a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe, exhibits a terrible urgency that carries readers along with her. Poems expressing intense love and desire ("Loves How I love you How you How we hang on words How eaten with need") are counterbalanced by those decrying the way women are used and abused. "All Nations," which begins with the near ungraspable fact of animal extinction ("I would like to think they've gone off somewhere"), flows into reflections on the genocide of Indigenous peoples ("Extinction sounds like other worlds other words extermination Termination"). Even as she embraces her heritage ("We are the children of creation/ under some protection/ …our rights equal eagle's"), she challenges "fauxskins" who wrongly claim it; "they want in us--inside us/ want to dress in our dead" without understanding the terrible price her people have paid. VERDICT A "National Poetry" selection, this work offers propulsive, open-hearted poems and would be a fine addition to most collections.
Excerpts
Excerpts
How Loves How I love you How you How we hang on words How eaten with need How we need to eat How weevils sift the wheat How cold it is How thick with hoarfrost ice slick sleet freeze How wintry the mix How full of angst How gut sick How blue lipped How we drink How we drink a health How we care How easy over as eggs How it all slides How absurd How yet tender we all How wrapped in a thick coat How battered How slender the flesh How we wrap ourselves How many selves we all How I miss you many How I see you How your eyes warm mine How tiny am I inside How enormous my need How you open an old- fashioned satchel How deep it yawns How bleak this need How like winter How it yet catches the light How brilliant the sun dogs parhelion moon dogs paraselene phenomenon optic How fetching your spectacles How my thumbs might fit alongside the slope of your nose How my own glasses slide down my thin bridge How ridiculous the theory of the bridge How inane the bibble babble How we grew to be friends How we grew thumbs How opposable we all How we grew sparks How we blew up a fire How angry How incensed How we resist How we bead up drops How water will not run How we distract How loud the dog snores How loudly How noisy the snow grows How many degrees below How we fret How again How we all came here How did we come How did we How loves How did we come to this Sovereign Love When I look upon the beloved the real beloved not the beloved of memoirs made up in revenge but the active generator of love the love maker When I when When I look upon you Beloved I might avert my gaze let it stray only to your hands then up to your throat It is only in holding your eyes away from mine that I can stay sovereign in my love It is only for you not from you. It is more than state or nation This love is itself unto itself The only name it needs it speaks within me Call it what you will It will answer Excerpted from Little Big Bully by Heid E. Erdrich All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
