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Blue Corn Tongue: Poems in the Mouth of the Desert
2025 Southwest Books of the Year
In a voice that is jubilant, irreverent, sometimes scouring, sometimes heartfelt, and always unmistakably her own, Amber McCrary remaps the deserts of Arizona through the blue corn story of a young Diné woman figuring out love and life with an O’odham man. Reflecting experiences of Indigenous joy, pain, and family, these shapeshifting poems celebrate the love between two Native partners, a love that flourishes alongside the traumas they face in the present and the past. From her ethereal connection with her saguaro muse, Hosh, to the intricate tapestry of her relationships with Diné relatives and her awakening to the complex world of toxic masculinity, McCrary brings together DIY zine aesthetics, life forms of juniper and mountains, and the beauty of Diné Bizaad to tell of the enduring bonds between people and place.
Journeying from the Colorado Plateau to the Sonoran Desert and back again, Blue Corn Tongue invokes the places, plants, and people of Diné Bikéyah and O’odham jeweḍ in a deeply honest exploration of love, memory, and intimacy confronting the legacy of land violence in these desert homelands.
In a voice that is jubilant, irreverent, sometimes scouring, sometimes heartfelt, and always unmistakably her own, Amber McCrary remaps the deserts of Arizona through the blue corn story of a young Diné woman figuring out love and life with an O’odham man. Reflecting experiences of Indigenous joy, pain, and family, these shapeshifting poems celebrate the love between two Native partners, a love that flourishes alongside the traumas they face in the present and the past. From her ethereal connection with her saguaro muse, Hosh, to the intricate tapestry of her relationships with Diné relatives and her awakening to the complex world of toxic masculinity, McCrary brings together DIY zine aesthetics, life forms of juniper and mountains, and the beauty of Diné Bizaad to tell of the enduring bonds between people and place.
Journeying from the Colorado Plateau to the Sonoran Desert and back again, Blue Corn Tongue invokes the places, plants, and people of Diné Bikéyah and O’odham jeweḍ in a deeply honest exploration of love, memory, and intimacy confronting the legacy of land violence in these desert homelands.
- GenresPoetryIndigenous
106 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 28, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 28, 2025
Talk about getting the wind knocked out of you...
I saw the length of the book and was certain that I could knock it out in a single sitting and, boy, was I wrong! Being Dine myself, I wasn't fully prepared for how awestruck I'd feel seeing my mother's tongue written down; to see some of my own experiences echoed in another person's life. Enough to where I could sense a feeling similar to dread rising the further I read on. I'm happy to have made it to the end of the first section before finally breaking down. If anything, I'm sure that it was intended by the author to have a close-up view at old and fresh wounds. I'm grateful to not only have been shattered, but put back together again.
I saw the length of the book and was certain that I could knock it out in a single sitting and, boy, was I wrong! Being Dine myself, I wasn't fully prepared for how awestruck I'd feel seeing my mother's tongue written down; to see some of my own experiences echoed in another person's life. Enough to where I could sense a feeling similar to dread rising the further I read on. I'm happy to have made it to the end of the first section before finally breaking down. If anything, I'm sure that it was intended by the author to have a close-up view at old and fresh wounds. I'm grateful to not only have been shattered, but put back together again.
May 17, 2026
The story of a Navajo girl who falls in love with a Tohono O'odham boy told through poetry. Obviously it's more than that, it's an exploration of identity and place; a poetry collection grounded in the Sonoran Desert using shapes to amplify the words. I loved the poems featuring the saguaro (one of my favorite Sonoran treasures) and those exploring a girlhood so different from my own (both different in place and circumstances).
I was shamed by sections of Massage My Eyes, Please because, Lord knows I've said those stupidly naive white woman words (I'm not part of THAT) without thinking any deeper about how I am part of THAT every single day. It reminded me of all those times I've had an older white man (one was my history teacher!) dismiss my anger over history (if we hadn't done that, you wouldn't be living here in this great country! they've said), the way they have put me down when I now know my anger was justified. I should be angry over how this country has stepped on and destroyed Native communities. Brutal to read, but she's right. I wish I could go back and tell younger me that it's OK to argue in history class. Maybe I wouldn't be so angry today if younger me could have released some of that anger back then.
I was shamed by sections of Massage My Eyes, Please because, Lord knows I've said those stupidly naive white woman words (I'm not part of THAT) without thinking any deeper about how I am part of THAT every single day. It reminded me of all those times I've had an older white man (one was my history teacher!) dismiss my anger over history (if we hadn't done that, you wouldn't be living here in this great country! they've said), the way they have put me down when I now know my anger was justified. I should be angry over how this country has stepped on and destroyed Native communities. Brutal to read, but she's right. I wish I could go back and tell younger me that it's OK to argue in history class. Maybe I wouldn't be so angry today if younger me could have released some of that anger back then.
May 13, 2025
McCary is a shining star of innovative style, and beautiful moments. She uses poetic forms to convey tactile themes, and explores intimacy, love and identity with other humans, and the more-than-human world with saguaros, corn and the land herself. Through observation, embodiment, consumption and contemplation, this place-based book took me into even deeper love for this land and its deep feeling.
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February 1, 2025this book makes me happy and it is inspiring
BLUE CORN TONGUE!
Amber McCrary unapologetically writes to and for Natives
she writes about indigenous love, land, family, loss and trauma with vulnerability and bravery and honesty and curiosity and insight
my favorite thing is the way she writes — the forms and language of the poems, they are special and they come from her diné ways & body
BLUE CORN TONGUE!
Amber McCrary unapologetically writes to and for Natives
she writes about indigenous love, land, family, loss and trauma with vulnerability and bravery and honesty and curiosity and insight
my favorite thing is the way she writes — the forms and language of the poems, they are special and they come from her diné ways & body
March 15, 2025
Absolutely stunning collection of poems. Amber McCrary crafts an insightful, honest, gut wrenching, personal, relatable, and sometimes hilarious book from beginning to end. This book really paints a map of both the writer and the land of which she writes. My review does not do this book justice but I loved the experience of reading it.
November 7, 2025
I love the braiding together of personal history with cultural history, wittiness with analytical, quiet moments with candid outspokenness. This is such an amazing first collection, and I hope to read more from McCrary in the near future.
April 3, 2025
had to read this slowly and SOOO appreciated the inclusion of the Dine language. A must read for anyone who loves indigenous poetry
January 2, 2026
A beautiful meditation on love and loss, history and identity, in equal parts reverence and critique. McCrary's perspective is sharp, sardonic, and soulful.
A powerful collection.
A powerful collection.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews