The Book of Medicines

by Linda Hogan

A collection of Native American poetry.

Genres: Poetry, Indigenous, Native American, Short Stories, School

96 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1993

About the author

Linda K. Hogan (born 1947 Denver) is a Native American poet, storyteller, academic, playwright, novelist, environmentalist and writer of short stories. She is currently the Chickasaw Nation's Writer in Residence.

Linda Hogan is Chickasaw. Her father is a Chickasaw from a recognized historical family and Linda's uncle, Wesley Henderson, helped form the White Buffalo Council in Denver during the 1950s. It was to help other Indian people coming to the city because of The Relocation Act, which encouraged migration for work and other opportunities. He had a strong influence on her and she grew up relating strongly to both her Chickasaw family in Indian Territory (Oklahoma) and to a mixed Indian community in the Denver area. At other times, her family traveled because of the military.

Her first university teaching position was in American Indian Studies and American Studies at the University of Minnesota. After writing her first book, Calling Myself Home, she continued to write poetry. Her work has both a historical and political focus, but is lyrical. Her most recent books are The Book of Medicines (1993) and Rounding the Human Corners. (2008) She is also a novelist and essayist. Her work centers on the world of Native peoples, from both her own indigenous perspective and that of others. She was a full professor of Creative Writing at the University of Colorado and then taught the last two years in the University's Ethnic Studies Department. She currently is the Writer in Residence for her own Chickasaw Nation.

Essayist, novelist, and poet, Hogan has published works in many different backgrounds and forms. Her concentration is on environmental themes. She has acted as a consultant in bringing together Native tribal representatives and feminist themes, particularly allying them to her Native ancestry. Her work, whether fiction or non-fiction, expresses an indigenous understanding of the world.

She has written essays and poems on a variety of subjects, both fictional and nonfictional, biographical and from research. Hogan has also written historical novels. Her work studies the historical wrongs done to Native Americans and the American environment since the European colonization of North America.

Hogan was a professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Oklahoma. She is the (inaugural) Writer-in-Residence for the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma. In October 2011, she instructed a writing workshop through the Abiquiu Workshops in Abiquiu, New Mexico.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Plagued by Visions]

It imagines the dawn of time in detail so intimate, you truly are left with the coldness of loss at the end of every verse.

[Kirsten]

Read a few other reviews, and I can't understand that we've read the same book. There are several poems, even passages, that would make this worth reading even if every other poem left me uninspired.

I'm going to leave this here for easy reference, as I'm reading a borrowed copy:
(p.19)

I am afraid of the future
as if I am the bear
turned in the stomach
of needy men
or the wolf become a dog
that will turn against itself
remembering what wildness was
before the crack of a gun,
before the men tried to kill it
or tame it
or tried to make it love them.

[Doris Raines]

I. Really. Like. This. Book. Of. Medicines. Why. Because. This. Book. Reminds. Me. Of. My. Child hood. My. Ancestors. Did. Not. Believe. In. Medicines. From. Doctor s. They. Discover. There. Very. Own. They. Lived. To. Get. 100. Years. Old. This. Book. Is. A. Must. Yes. I. Got. To. Have. This. Book. In. My. Libary. Doris.

[sylas]

SO. Good.

[Mariana]

These great poems should be read very slowly.

[birdmaddgirl]

incantatory

[Rae]

Beautiful poetry with Native American and environmental themes throughout. This is just fine stuff.

[Lauren]

This poetry is best enjoyed aloud. Alone. In a clear, beautiful spot.

[Travis]

A book that caught my eye when it passed through the library on hold. Some of the poems contain fascinating and vivid images, and it was interesting to read for that. However, as is the case with pretty much all modern poetry, the lack of a rhythm-linked sound structure (rhyme or alliteration) left me a bit lost in the reading; quite possibly the poems would come alive given the proper performance, but they generally failed to do so as I quietly read them to myself.

Also, I found I really wanted some greater context or commentary to explain the poems. There are many poems with a first-person narrator, and I wondered to what extent they were based actual experiences as compared to imagined experiences drawn from the poet's cultural background.

[Alexa]

Linda Hogan's verse is beautiful and complex, offering much to unpack and take in.

[Ruth Martinez]

I didn't like every poem but those I did were powerful, haunting, with good imagery.

[Adam Burnett]

Rich poems hot with hunger and compassion leaving one breathless in a literary tonic of hurt, joy, poison, and wisdom; animal medicine as choral profundity and revelation.

[Brian]

Capturing a feel for First Nations sensibilities and insights.

[Madison Doss]

Phenomenal. Everything Linda Hogan writes is a work of art enjoyed word by word. I loved this collection of poetry & know I will revisit them time & time again.

[sarah w]

Sweet, deep whorls of bear fat and bone

[mumtaz]

That’s mother

[Francis]

I had a poetry professor once very harshly criticize me for the same kind of enjambments I found all over this chapbook. Melodramatic, my professor called it. And this collection really made me feel the truth behind that. Perhaps I am missing something, but this whole collection felt like it was full of grand proclamations of a vague sort that I simply couldn't ground into reality. The imagery was so intangible for me, and I recognized some of the characters of Native American folk traditions, but couldn't quite connect them with the meaning Hogan was trying to achieve. I frequently found myself trying to read the poems and my mind would wander onto other things because not a single piece in this collection held my attention. I kept hoping to find something in one of the later poems, but then I had made it to the end and just...I didn't get anything out of this book. I'm sorry to say.

[Lauren]

While the book contains beautiful descriptions and language in most parts. I found the poems to be highly political and less emotionally honest. I feel that many of them came from a source of deciding what the poem would "teach" before putting pen to paper, rather than letting them teach incidentally. Some people like this, I don't.

Confusing syntax and overuse of abstractions also caused me to not enjoy certain stanzas of poems, but there's plenty of good stuff in the book to make up for that, depending on how picky you are.

[C]

I want to like this much more than I do like this.

I agree with the message. I believe the poet has a good understanding of rhythm and meaning.

Something, however, just feels flat. Several poems stand out - particularly "glass" and "fat," but I just can't fall into this collection... I don't feel like I can believe in it.

[mr. kate]

I couldn't get caught up in these poems and forced myself to read the first section, but then packed it in.