Red Clay - ISBNLookup.com

Library Journal

``I'm dreaming the old turtle back.'' So begins Hogan's journey. For Native Americans, the journey home is what tells them of their history, the mystery of their very lives, and leads them toward fullness and strength. According to Hogan, these poems and tales were part of her return, helping her identify with her tribe and the Oklahoma earth, the powers of ancestors and clay: ``We are plodding creatures/ like the turtle.'' The story of Native Americans is about more than ancestry and land; it is as much about the politics and betrayals that led them into the Red Hills. Half this collection is prose, woven together with history both personal and tribal. Like the poems, these stories burn with emotion and a great sense of truth, but they concern themselves as much with narrative. Set in the world of the Chickasaws, ``with a veneer of Christianity that shone across the old ways,'' the tales provide a rare and memorable picture of this rich and noble culture. This book will be appreciated beyond the usual small number of poetry/essay readers. Highly recommended.-- Louis McKee, Painted Bride Arts Ctr., Philadelphia