Follow the Blackbirds

American Indian Studies (AIS)

by Gwen Westerman

In language as perceptive as it is poignant, poet Gwen Nell Westerman builds a world in words that reflects the past, present, and future of the Dakota people. An intricate balance between the singularity of personal experience and the unity of collective longing, Follow the Blackbirds speaks to the affection and appreciation a contemporary poet feels for her family, community, and environment. With touches of humor and the occasional sharp cultural criticism, the voice that emerges from these poems is that of a Dakota woman rooted in her world and her words. In this moving collection, Westerman reflects on history and family from a unique perspective, one that connects the painful past and the hard-fought future of her Dakota homeland. Grounded in vivid story and memory, Westerman draws on both English and the Dakota language to celebrate the long journey along sunflower-lined highways of the tallgrass prairies of the Great Plains that returns her to a place filled with “more than history.” An intense homage to the power of place, this book tells a masterful story of cultural survival and the power of language.

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2013

About the author

Gwen Westerman is a Dakota educator, writer and artist. She is the Director of the Native American Literature Symposium.

Westerman is an enrolled member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota Oyate and speaker of the Dakota language. She is Professor of English and Director of the Humanities Program at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Westerman received a BA and MA in English from Oklahoma State University. She received a PhD in English from the University of Kansas.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Viviana Nunez · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/4.5

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having interviewed Gwen Westerman for a magazine article, I realized I'd never actually read more than two of her poems. So when this collection presented itself, it became a priority. Westerman is a skilled poet whose succinct poems reveal and share a great deal. One of my favorites in "Follow the Blackbirds" is "Linear Perspective." Westerman explores her Indigenous background, alluding to the Native schools to which her grandparents were sent and employing Dakota language as the volume progresses. So much of this is lovely and meaningful. I highly recommend it.

[Becky Loader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked Westerman's book up out of a display on poetry at my local public library. Sometimes, impulse is a good thing.

Westerman writes from the perspective of a Dakota woman. These poems are wonderfully descriptive and cleverly written. Sometimes she uses a technique made famous by e.e. cummings: the words form a shape. Ranging from the very sad to the very joyous, she uses native language to enhance her meaning.

Wonderful poems.

[Julie Capell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contemporary life in the US as seen through a native American lens, these poems were (mostly) gentle reminders that we may be living in the same place, but we experience reality in vastly different ways.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed these poems. A very short read.

[nx74defiant · Rating 3 out of 5]

By a native American author. Short poetry. Many quite sad. Uses the Dakota language as well as English. There is a pronunciation guide and glossary.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poetry is not my go but I really enjoyed this volume! She captures a sense of time and place so well you can almost feel it in some of her poems.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetry