Monarch

by Heather Bourbeau

Exploring histories forgotten or often overlooked, Heather Bourbeau's Monarch is a powerful poetic memoir of the American West. Focused on the people and events that shaped California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, Bourbeau crafts a regional history that counteracts the simple narratives we are told and taught. Epic, personal, and compelling, Monarch impacts how we see each other and how we see our shared environment.

82 pages, Paperback

Published January 16, 2023

Reviews

[Matt Leibel · Rating 5 out of 5]

History is always a frame story—and in Monarch, Heather Bourbeau shifts the frame to bring to light histories of the American West we haven't heard before, with all their injustices and heartbreaks and amazements and even quirkiness, and to turn them into deeply affecting poetry. Meticulously researched (there's a 19-page bibliography available!) and lyrically written, this collection introduced me to the last grizzly in California (who ended up on the State flag); dancers amidst nuclear testing in the desert crowned Miss Atomic Blast and Miss Atomic Bomb; the first female Governor in the US (who wasn't even allowed to vote for herself); Eastern European Jews seeking freedom at the end of the 19th century in post silver-boom Nevada; and a middle-aged rodeo legend awesomely named Jackson Sundown. Read this ambitious, innovatively structured and wide-ranging collection and see California, Oregon, Nevada and Washington and even history itself anew.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this slim but arresting volume, poet Heather Bourbeau pulls off the dual conjuring act of bringing to life a bygone era of California’s early colonial history through the art of the written word, and simultaneously creating a rich educational resource that describes and demonstrated exactly what that colonialism entails. Uncritical immersion in a time and place is juxtaposed with the critical, retrospective gaze of the present day, to striking effect. The inclusion of a historic timeline and study notes makes these engaging reads all the more poignant, and none more so then the story of the eponymous grizzly of the book’s title, now universally recognized as the iconic bear of the California state flag. The dissonance between the regal image and the tragic reality is heartbreaking.

[Ginger Hilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was chosen for our book club. Poems are not something I usually read as a book. They are a casual read for me. So, I flipped around and read various poems. What I liked was the history timeline, recognition of the places written about, and putting it all together. I learned is there is a beginning and end to each off the chapters so you can read them in order or flip around. I feel like I can pick this little book up and read a poem and learn and grow from it in whatever manner I decide to read it. Flipping around or in order.

[Beth Winegarner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading these poems, each one the story of a forgotten figure from history. The title poem, for example, is about the death of the last grizzly bear in California, whose name was Monarch. Each poem is rich with historical detail, and also deep compassion for its subjects. Don't miss this book.