Split the Crow

by Sarah Sousa

FREE VERSE EDITIONS, edited by JON THOMPSON | "Something magical happens in these pages-we are waked from forgetfulness and are pulled into a living history that revives us and spares us nothing. The reader 'we want /what is real, don't deny us' and Sousa does not disappoint. In exploring the narrative of Mary Rowlandson, Split the Crow employs lyric to stop time, draw it close, and inspect it on its own terms without being either pedantic or patronizing. Sousa bares essential truths of our young country; we have struggled all along defining ourselves by othering. In spite of this, Split the Crow shows all that is human is transitive. I had been dying to read this book until I read it; I did not know what I lacked until I was sated." -TJ JARRETT | "Split the Crow is rife with surprise, rich with inventive images from the natural world, and delicious with music. Weaving through centuries of Native American material culture, Sousa walks no straight lines. From 'Her Moods Caused Owls': "Once there was a girl who spoke / garlands' and (four lines later) 'her fear caused gardens.' This brilliant, idiosyncratic book rides the wave of language and consciousness rather than narrative, to breathtaking effect. And this poet is not just smart, she's wise." -ELLEN DORE WATSON | "The poems of Sarah Sousa's Split the Crow employ archaeology as a means of giving voice not only to the land, but to long-gone peoples. We discover the objects that individuals were equipped with for their final journeys, as well as witnessing their tales. Sousa's work picks up where conventional history has left off, giving voice to urgent testimonies. 'The Lost People,' states, 'On the train coming east, / not knowing what else to do, boys sang / the death songs our warriors sang riding into battle,' just one of many instances where Native American accounts find a ready home in Sousa's poetry. Split the Crow is a collection of tremendous magnitude that calls upon the past as a way to reconsider our present moment." -MARY BIDDINGER | SARAH SOUSA'S poems have appeared in The Massachusetts Review, Fugue, Passages North, Barn Owl Review, and Salt Hill Journal, among others. Her first collection, Church of Needles, won the Red Mountain Prize (Red Mountain Press, 2014). She is the editor and transcriber of The Diary of Esther Small; 1886, holds an MFA from Bennington College, and lives in Western Massachusetts with her husband and two sons.

Genres: Poetry

76 pages, Paperback

First published January 6, 2015

About the author

Sarah Sousa is the author of the poetry collections See the Wolf (2018): Split the Crow (2015) and Church of Needles (2014) She also edited and transcribed The Diary of Esther Small, 1886 (2014) which won the New England Book Festival Award for Regional Literature. Her poems have appeared in the Massachusetts Review, Fourteen Hills, the Southern Poetry Review, Verse Daily and Tupelo Quarterly, among others. She has a sonnet forthcoming in the collaborative artist’s book Mother Monument. Her honors include a Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship, the Anne Halley Prize, and a Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship. She is the founding editor of the former alternative mini lit mag Queen of Cups and is a member of the board of directors of Perugia Press.

Reviews

[Paige Zeigler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm in awe of Sarah Sousa. I was hooked from the opening poem called "Her Moods Caused Owls," when she writes:
Once there was a girl who spoke
garlands; blossoms unspooled
from her mouth. Confused,
she tried to flee her own fecundity.
And her fear caused gardens.

I'm swallowing a story
that ends with blood-stained snow.
I know how this looks.
It appears to be true.
//
I feel it in my heart. I can't wait to devour her other work.

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the opportunity to listen to Sarah read and offer historical references and inspirations to her work. I highly recommend this book, dark yet delicious.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading all these poems. I would love to read more by Sarah Sousa

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

heartbreaking and stunning. THE MYTH OF FISH

[Brenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sarah Sousa's poetry is sometimes a little dark as it deals with how illnesses and death came to Native Peoples in the 1800's, but it is beautifully written. Using both lyrical and narrative writing, Sousa memorably brings to life the past. She doesn't hide behind any embellishment, but is straightforward and well spoken throughout the whole set of poems in Split The Crow.

****this book was received through a Booklikes giveaway given by the author, in exchange for a
fair review.****

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed Sarah Sousa's collection of poems, received in a Goodreads giveaway. The prose is cleverly written and the theme of Native American history weaved throughout is fascinating, although not always comfortable to read. Everytime I thought I had read my favourite piece, another came along. A superb book of poetry that deserves to be a great success and an easy five star review.

[Gabrielle Sinclair · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing book. I recommend this book to anyone who like poetry and appreciates art. I will keep this book for years to come so that one day I can read it to my children when they are old enough.

[Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this via good reads and read it but I have to admit I did enjoy some of the poems but others I really did not like nor understand to well. Nevertheless it was well written just not to my overall taste.

[A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, a really imaginative, provoking, and researched collection. I was a little uncomfortable with the poems in Native voices (because their voices were being brought out by a white woman; I would rather see this coming from a Native voice. But I did like how she engaged with Mary Rowlandson), but otherwise I found the poems really lovely. This is my second Sarah Sousa book and I have enjoyed them both immensely.