Mother/Land

by Cheryl Savageau

In "Mother/Land", Savageau weaves traditional, personal and family stories, with stories of colonization and resistance, revealing a landscape of trees, ponds, rivers and mountains rich in meaning for Abenaki people. Mother/Land is beaded with gems from her mother's jewel box-poems that tell stories of her mother's life and death, and the complexities of love and survival.

Genres: Poetry

156 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2006

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best poetry I've read since slyvia plath

[J.S. Graustein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Achingly beautiful. A stunning translation of the landscape I live in.

[Mai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful, deep, thoughtful, sometimes funny poems. Loved this!

[Carol Bachofner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that can change the views of non-native people on the lives, feelings, experiences of that invisible societal group: Native Americans ( not that I like using that term). The poems expose a culture that is alive and vibrant even in the face of its cultural erasure. The life of a modern, contemporary indigenous woman as unveiled though issues of land and family, is just what the reading public needs.

I recommend reading the whole thing through once, then returning like the sun, to the beginning and reading each poem slowly and quietly. Then read the poems again aloud. You are not changed by this? Are you already dead?

[Siobhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have written about this book, and her previous one, Dirt Road Home: Poems for STUDIES IN AMERICAN INDIAN LITERATURES 22.3 (2010), but would be really interested to hear what others think. Savageau is an Abenaki poet, now living in Massachusetts, who writes beautifully about New England landscapes and people from an indigenous perspective.

Another excellent Abenaki poet, Carol Willette Bachofner, has also recommended this book on Goodreads.

[Brenda Wamsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't really get it. the one I liked the best was Mendel's Milkmen. it made me laugh. had to read it for a class.