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Off-Season City Pipe
In poems as beautiful in their telling as they are powerful in their ethos, poet and memoirist Hedge Coke draws upon her background as a tobacco sharecropper, factory worker and fisherwoman, articulating the stark contrast between a tradition of labor that instills pride and builds strong communities with the modern-day reality of backbreaking work that fails to provide sustenance for the land or its people.
Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, of Huron, Tsa la gi, French Canadian and European descent, is the author of the American Book Award-winning debut collection Dog Road Woman and the memoir Rock, Ghost, Willow Deer. She has been instrumental in creating Native American mentorship programs throughout the country and will join the faculty of Northern Michigan University in 2005.
Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, of Huron, Tsa la gi, French Canadian and European descent, is the author of the American Book Award-winning debut collection Dog Road Woman and the memoir Rock, Ghost, Willow Deer. She has been instrumental in creating Native American mentorship programs throughout the country and will join the faculty of Northern Michigan University in 2005.
- GenresPoetry
75 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2005
38 people want to read
About the author
Allison Adelle Hedge Coke
21 books28 followersAllison Adelle Hedge Coke authored books include: The Year of the Rat, (American Book Award) Dog Road Woman and Off-Season City Pipe, poetry; Rock Ghost, Willow, Deer, a memoir; and Blood Run, a verse-play that served to lobby for legislation and protection of the Indigenous site. 2014 works: Burn, MadHat Press and Streaming, Coffee House Press. Hedge Coke has edited eight additional collections, including Sing: Poetry from the Indigenous Americas, Effigies, & Effigies II (2014) & directs the Literary Sandhill CraneFest. She came of age cropping tobacco and working fields, waters, and working in factories.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 28, 2015
Not since several years ago when I read Joy Harjo's How We Became Human have I found a volume of poetry that has as much potential to be taught in a variety of college classrooms. But Allison Adelle Hedge Coke's Off-Season City Pipe comes very close. While Hedge Coke is Huron and Tsa la gi (Cherokee), her work could appeal to a broad audience. Included in this slim volume are children and elders; union thugs and sullen charity workers; gritty housing projects in Los Angeles and farmlands of the Deep South.
Harjo herself remarked positively on "The Change" (pg. 10-14) which describes both the mechanization of tobacco farming and the end of a romantic relationship. Hedge Coke and her lover part in several ways. She is disgusted by the malathion that causes "oozing hives" on farm workers' bodies, while he enjoys a brand new Trans-Am purchasable through big agriculture; she moves into a rickety shack while he beds with a white woman at a hotel. This experience of a young couple growing up and growing apart is something that virtually everyone has experienced.
Although I agree that "The Change" is a wonderfully evocative and universal poem, I believe others in this collection are just as notable. "Off-Season" (pg. 17-18) is similar to "The Change" in that agriculture and a rocky love affair are the themes. However, it goes further to point up the challenge to men's esteem when girlfriends or wives succeed at "men's occupations" (in this case, construction). Another poem along these lines is "This He Learned by Being American" (pg. 46), in which a man denigrates Hedge Coke as a "welfare slut." His hurtful words make her question her self-worth, despite the fact that she cares for her children, works, and attends college. "Voucher, Voucher" (pg. 58-60) and "A White Lady Speaks" (pg. 64-67) are other works in which poor, Native women are slandered -- in this case, even by the charities and misinformed persons who supposedly intend to assist them. Speaking as someone who teaches literature students, I feel "Off-Season," "This He Learned," and "A White Woman" have plenty of "legs" in terms of discussing gender, economics, social activism, and other topics common in college classrooms.
Hedge Coke also proves herself adept at describing the natural world. In Off Season City Pipe, two favorites are "Sorrel Run" (19-24) and "Pulp and Thick Skin" (pg. 72-73), the first of which describes horse-riding and the later which portrays an orange grove. Phrases like "trigger-flexed," "strong-throttled beat," and ears "tilting, tilting back" wonderfully capture the kinetic energy of a running horse. Interestingly, taking control of the runaway mare is a transformative experience, prompting the rider to "escapes" of her own. Similarly, in "Pulp and Thick Skin," readers experience walking through a grove in which wet grass is "plastering canvas shoes," as they spy fruit that "hangs steadily inviting plucks." These succulent words evoke the sharp juiciness of oranges -- so much so, I found myself plodding toward my fridge in search of a glass of Tropicana!
Whether one wants to discuss social issues or writing technique, Off-Season City Pipe offers many jumping-off points. In "Voucher, Voucher," Hedge Coke reveals that a Pulitzer has long been her dream. I hope this collection of poetry earns her high recognition!
Harjo herself remarked positively on "The Change" (pg. 10-14) which describes both the mechanization of tobacco farming and the end of a romantic relationship. Hedge Coke and her lover part in several ways. She is disgusted by the malathion that causes "oozing hives" on farm workers' bodies, while he enjoys a brand new Trans-Am purchasable through big agriculture; she moves into a rickety shack while he beds with a white woman at a hotel. This experience of a young couple growing up and growing apart is something that virtually everyone has experienced.
Although I agree that "The Change" is a wonderfully evocative and universal poem, I believe others in this collection are just as notable. "Off-Season" (pg. 17-18) is similar to "The Change" in that agriculture and a rocky love affair are the themes. However, it goes further to point up the challenge to men's esteem when girlfriends or wives succeed at "men's occupations" (in this case, construction). Another poem along these lines is "This He Learned by Being American" (pg. 46), in which a man denigrates Hedge Coke as a "welfare slut." His hurtful words make her question her self-worth, despite the fact that she cares for her children, works, and attends college. "Voucher, Voucher" (pg. 58-60) and "A White Lady Speaks" (pg. 64-67) are other works in which poor, Native women are slandered -- in this case, even by the charities and misinformed persons who supposedly intend to assist them. Speaking as someone who teaches literature students, I feel "Off-Season," "This He Learned," and "A White Woman" have plenty of "legs" in terms of discussing gender, economics, social activism, and other topics common in college classrooms.
Hedge Coke also proves herself adept at describing the natural world. In Off Season City Pipe, two favorites are "Sorrel Run" (19-24) and "Pulp and Thick Skin" (pg. 72-73), the first of which describes horse-riding and the later which portrays an orange grove. Phrases like "trigger-flexed," "strong-throttled beat," and ears "tilting, tilting back" wonderfully capture the kinetic energy of a running horse. Interestingly, taking control of the runaway mare is a transformative experience, prompting the rider to "escapes" of her own. Similarly, in "Pulp and Thick Skin," readers experience walking through a grove in which wet grass is "plastering canvas shoes," as they spy fruit that "hangs steadily inviting plucks." These succulent words evoke the sharp juiciness of oranges -- so much so, I found myself plodding toward my fridge in search of a glass of Tropicana!
Whether one wants to discuss social issues or writing technique, Off-Season City Pipe offers many jumping-off points. In "Voucher, Voucher," Hedge Coke reveals that a Pulitzer has long been her dream. I hope this collection of poetry earns her high recognition!
April 5, 2011
Why did it take me so long to read this?
April 18, 2016
Simply put, time and time again this book reminds me why I love poetry.
December 29, 2007
Poetry for affirmation and reconciliation!
June 12, 2014
Allison, I love your poems! It was fun hanging out with you the other weekend
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews