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Rose Quartz: Poems
A wild, seductive debut collection that presents a powerful journey of struggle and healing—and a spellbinding brew of folklore, movies, music, and ritual.
“Draw me encircled // in something // other than gasoline.” The poems of Rose Quartz hum with the naked energy of one who has found her way home after a journey rife with difficulty and who has the scars to show for it. In them, Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe moves from intimate scenes of peril—a car accident, an unwelcome advance at a party, a miscarriage—to the salvific, exhilarating punk scene of the Pacific Northwest and the centering shores of her Coast Salish ancestors. Along the way, she peers into the darker corners of her own search for belonging, and finds there glittering stones dense with meaning and the power to move forward.
As game to follow a beckoning Laura Palmer into the burning woods as she is to step into the shoes of Little Red Riding Hood as she lays waste to her wolf, LaPointe explores the sublime space between beauty and danger through lush, almost baroque, use of folktale and color. Red, white, blue, and an amalgam that is none of the above—rose—vie for the speaker’s embrace as a mixed-race woman. Here, poems become offerings, rituals, incantations conjured in the name of healing and power.
Like the stones and cards laid on an altar, Rose Quartz offers a reading at the intersection of identity and myth, trauma and truth, telling the story of past, present, and future.
“Draw me encircled // in something // other than gasoline.” The poems of Rose Quartz hum with the naked energy of one who has found her way home after a journey rife with difficulty and who has the scars to show for it. In them, Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe moves from intimate scenes of peril—a car accident, an unwelcome advance at a party, a miscarriage—to the salvific, exhilarating punk scene of the Pacific Northwest and the centering shores of her Coast Salish ancestors. Along the way, she peers into the darker corners of her own search for belonging, and finds there glittering stones dense with meaning and the power to move forward.
As game to follow a beckoning Laura Palmer into the burning woods as she is to step into the shoes of Little Red Riding Hood as she lays waste to her wolf, LaPointe explores the sublime space between beauty and danger through lush, almost baroque, use of folktale and color. Red, white, blue, and an amalgam that is none of the above—rose—vie for the speaker’s embrace as a mixed-race woman. Here, poems become offerings, rituals, incantations conjured in the name of healing and power.
Like the stones and cards laid on an altar, Rose Quartz offers a reading at the intersection of identity and myth, trauma and truth, telling the story of past, present, and future.
128 pages, Paperback
Published March 14, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
December 14, 2023
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A haunting, seductive collection that explores the many transformations we undergo in life, and the complexities of love and identity. With gorgeous imagery honoring the land, the mind, and the heart, Rose Quartz is a series of vignettes of what it means to hurt, to heal, to fall in love, to confront the past and future simultaneously. It is also a candid look into the indigenous experience in contemporary society, confronting the various and enduring losses and struggles; for land, for traditions, for memories not tinged with heartbreak, for time long gone by, for security. Each poem adds depth of emotion and a layer of magic to LaPointe’s message, a wonderfully profound mix of the sacred and the everyday, the humble and grand, the sorrow and joy. A lush collection that is both an open love letter to the winding roads of life, and people who walk alongside us, the ones who made the path.
A haunting, seductive collection that explores the many transformations we undergo in life, and the complexities of love and identity. With gorgeous imagery honoring the land, the mind, and the heart, Rose Quartz is a series of vignettes of what it means to hurt, to heal, to fall in love, to confront the past and future simultaneously. It is also a candid look into the indigenous experience in contemporary society, confronting the various and enduring losses and struggles; for land, for traditions, for memories not tinged with heartbreak, for time long gone by, for security. Each poem adds depth of emotion and a layer of magic to LaPointe’s message, a wonderfully profound mix of the sacred and the everyday, the humble and grand, the sorrow and joy. A lush collection that is both an open love letter to the winding roads of life, and people who walk alongside us, the ones who made the path.
November 29, 2024
saw someone else call this “sparkling” in their review and i couldn’t agree more
September 2, 2023
I loved this collection of poetry, though I'm sure I only understood a fraction of the meaning, and I don't consider myself a reader of poems. LaPointe lives in Tacoma. It was exciting for me to read a local author. A lot of the poems have Pacific Northwest sites and other references. She is Coast Salish from the Nooksack and Upper Skagit Indian tribes with a double MF in Creative Nonfiction and Poetry from the Institute of American Indian Arts.
There were far too many poems that I liked to quote from them all, but here is a short one as an example.
Rose Oil
I will build the fire up from the scrap wood
of a wrecked home tending it as other
women
do their children on starless nights
I will drop my gown at the crackling embers
see my silhouette against flame and raise
each finger to the sky in want
in wailing
limbs painted in rose oil and clay
I will lose my name in the billowing smoke
will sing a circle inside salt lines
to forget the words of earth
and levitate
There were far too many poems that I liked to quote from them all, but here is a short one as an example.
Rose Oil
I will build the fire up from the scrap wood
of a wrecked home tending it as other
women
do their children on starless nights
I will drop my gown at the crackling embers
see my silhouette against flame and raise
each finger to the sky in want
in wailing
limbs painted in rose oil and clay
I will lose my name in the billowing smoke
will sing a circle inside salt lines
to forget the words of earth
and levitate
July 19, 2023
This poetry collection is up there with some of Danez Smith's for me, which is a HUGE compliment. I loved reading about familiar locations like the Nooksack and Mt. Baker through an indigenous cultural lens. Dripping with '90s Cascadia counterculture, LaPointe evokes everything from punk rock to Twin Peaks, while also taking some dark turns into classic folklore. Her writing feels a bit like a dream; it's surreal, shrouded in mystery and full of bite.
December 30, 2022
From the author of Red Paint, LaPointe's long-awaited debut poetry collection Rose Quartz pulls no punches. Accompanied by rustic and witchy atmospheres that ooze Pacific Northwest, LaPointe's poems often center around the hardships she's survived and growth she has accomplished in relationships, a miscarriage, and her Coast Salish identity. Gorgeous, vulnerable, and shimmering with strength.
September 26, 2023
Poetry that really spoke to me, and that I will definitely revisit. Rare to hear me say that, because I struggle with *understanding* poetry - and the fact that poetry isn’t meant to be fully understood, but that’s a whole other point. But this? I felt LaPointe’s words deeply. Excited to hang on to this and savor it.
April 7, 2025
Me ha gustado muchísimo pero, como siempre, me ha costado mucho terminar este poemario.
A ver, la cuestión es que me da pereza leer poesía. Por eso empiezo poemarios y luego me cuesta retomarlos aunque me gusten 😅
Teniendo esto en cuenta, en septiembre del año pasado (2.024) leí unos cuantos poemas y estas dos últimas semanas he leído el resto.
Me costó un poco más por la cultura de la autora y ciertas palabras pero al final estaba deseando volver a él.
Tiene una estructura cíclica imitando las etapas vitales de una persona. Siempre me han llamado la atención este tipo de planteamientos estructurales en la literatura. Cada "etapa" está encabezada por una gema y un arcano mayor. La mayoría de los títulos de los poemas se repiten imitando a su vez la transformación y evolución que sufrimos a lo largo de la vida. Muy, muy interesante.
Aquí encontrarás poemas sobre la identidad, las raíces (tanto culturales como físicas), familia (elegida y de sangre), la pérdida, el amor y, lo que más me ha conectado con la autora: la naturaleza. El tarot y la brujería, espiritualidad, también están muy presentes.
Estas son solo algunas de las temáticas y, por supuesto, habrá muchas referencias culturales que se me escapan.
Me alegro muchísimo de haber encontrado este libro en una lista de Goodreads y haberme decidido a leerlo y comprarlo.
A ver, la cuestión es que me da pereza leer poesía. Por eso empiezo poemarios y luego me cuesta retomarlos aunque me gusten 😅
Teniendo esto en cuenta, en septiembre del año pasado (2.024) leí unos cuantos poemas y estas dos últimas semanas he leído el resto.
Me costó un poco más por la cultura de la autora y ciertas palabras pero al final estaba deseando volver a él.
Tiene una estructura cíclica imitando las etapas vitales de una persona. Siempre me han llamado la atención este tipo de planteamientos estructurales en la literatura. Cada "etapa" está encabezada por una gema y un arcano mayor. La mayoría de los títulos de los poemas se repiten imitando a su vez la transformación y evolución que sufrimos a lo largo de la vida. Muy, muy interesante.
Aquí encontrarás poemas sobre la identidad, las raíces (tanto culturales como físicas), familia (elegida y de sangre), la pérdida, el amor y, lo que más me ha conectado con la autora: la naturaleza. El tarot y la brujería, espiritualidad, también están muy presentes.
Estas son solo algunas de las temáticas y, por supuesto, habrá muchas referencias culturales que se me escapan.
Me alegro muchísimo de haber encontrado este libro en una lista de Goodreads y haberme decidido a leerlo y comprarlo.
July 11, 2023
Content/Trigger Warnings: Sexual assault, violence, alcohol, trauma, grief, blood, car accident, talk of a miscarriage, talk of displacement & colonization, references to MMIWG2S, brief references to blood quantum, loneliness, and potentially more!
Actual rating: 4.5 ⭐
I think everyone has heard me say by now that I'm a firm believer that things come into our life when we need them the most especially literature. As fate would have it, I'm on another healing journey right now and lately, this has been popping up everywhere for me. Even when it's not, it would randomly pop into my thoughts and I'd be like, "I should look into that poetry collection sometime soon." Well, I did just that, look into it, I mean. It's been a while since a poetry collection has made me sob, for almost a full hour, just crying and sobbing. I was highlighting so many passages, quotes, and just anything that resonated with me. Actually, I think I highlighted whole pages, too. There's an entire passage of a discussion of what it means to be a white-passing Native and how sometimes you can feel so isolated, so rejected from your elders, your community, your people for being a white-passing Native, and how damaging, how hurtful it is. You know, I spent a good 15 minutes sobbing over that being a white-passing Native myself and dealing on a daily basis of "not being enough" There was also a few passages of what it means to love and be with someone who isn't Native/Indigenous and how you can have so many complex feelings over that, how you sometimes find yourself wondering about the "what if/s," and just a whole discussion of how love is multilayered, never linear, and a force that is so powerful in so many ways. It was an emotional rollercoaster for me, but this whole book was so beautiful, so healing in so many ways, and it came to me at the time when I needed it the most.
Do I think everyone will love/enjoy this book? No because it's not only nonfiction in very specific aspects, but there's a mix of other elements like tarot and references to Little Red Riding Hood. So I think this book will be hit or miss for some readers, but I also think there will be readers who will resonate with a lot in this book especially if you're Native/Indigenous. Obviously, I really enjoyed it and anything that can make me sob the way this book has will always be cherished.
All thoughts, feelings, experiences, and opinions are honest and my own.
Instagram|Ko-fi|Throne
Actual rating: 4.5 ⭐
"keep this
with you
it is part
of your story
sometimes
to remember
a wound
is the way
of healing"
I think everyone has heard me say by now that I'm a firm believer that things come into our life when we need them the most especially literature. As fate would have it, I'm on another healing journey right now and lately, this has been popping up everywhere for me. Even when it's not, it would randomly pop into my thoughts and I'd be like, "I should look into that poetry collection sometime soon." Well, I did just that, look into it, I mean. It's been a while since a poetry collection has made me sob, for almost a full hour, just crying and sobbing. I was highlighting so many passages, quotes, and just anything that resonated with me. Actually, I think I highlighted whole pages, too. There's an entire passage of a discussion of what it means to be a white-passing Native and how sometimes you can feel so isolated, so rejected from your elders, your community, your people for being a white-passing Native, and how damaging, how hurtful it is. You know, I spent a good 15 minutes sobbing over that being a white-passing Native myself and dealing on a daily basis of "not being enough" There was also a few passages of what it means to love and be with someone who isn't Native/Indigenous and how you can have so many complex feelings over that, how you sometimes find yourself wondering about the "what if/s," and just a whole discussion of how love is multilayered, never linear, and a force that is so powerful in so many ways. It was an emotional rollercoaster for me, but this whole book was so beautiful, so healing in so many ways, and it came to me at the time when I needed it the most.
Do I think everyone will love/enjoy this book? No because it's not only nonfiction in very specific aspects, but there's a mix of other elements like tarot and references to Little Red Riding Hood. So I think this book will be hit or miss for some readers, but I also think there will be readers who will resonate with a lot in this book especially if you're Native/Indigenous. Obviously, I really enjoyed it and anything that can make me sob the way this book has will always be cherished.
All thoughts, feelings, experiences, and opinions are honest and my own.
Instagram|Ko-fi|Throne
December 21, 2023
sparkling
Read
April 28, 2023Very poignant and emotional. I'm always astounded that poets can publish something so clearly personal to them, I could never have that level of confidence. I'll be looking out for more from Sasha in the future, she's definitely an author to keep an eye on.
January 5, 2024
I say this all the time, but I am not a competent poetry reader. I try to remain open-minded, but I always feel like I am missing something. (I am probably just panicking in the uncharted waters of reading quickly, because I am normally a desperately slow reader 🐌). That being said, I know that an important aspect of poetry is the idea that it moves you emotionally, and this anthology is very moving. The pain and anger that LaPointe expresses is palpable, the wounds she carries as a member of North America's Coast Salish peoples are laid bare on the alter of her words in everything she writes. Through the ache of dislocation, of stripped identities and histories, the later poems in the collection offer a feeling of persisting in spite of the trauma. When I was reading them, I was choked up, but I was smiling, if that offers a clearer illustration of the emotion I am trying to convey.
Oftentimes when reading poetry, I get the feeling that I am just reading the words, that any deeper meaning or figurative language is being lost on me. For some reason, it is difficult for me to extrapolate symbolism in such a small amount of words. In this anthology however, LaPointe's use of imagery took me in and I really understood her words and saw what she was saying, beyond just reading it.
In one of her poems, LaPointe talks about how her grandmother spoke the Lushootseed language, and she misses hearing it. Colonization and genocide took away so much from the indigenous American peoples including their voices and their words. LaPointe's poetry is a tragic reminder of things lost, and it is special and impactful to read about it.
Oftentimes when reading poetry, I get the feeling that I am just reading the words, that any deeper meaning or figurative language is being lost on me. For some reason, it is difficult for me to extrapolate symbolism in such a small amount of words. In this anthology however, LaPointe's use of imagery took me in and I really understood her words and saw what she was saying, beyond just reading it.
In one of her poems, LaPointe talks about how her grandmother spoke the Lushootseed language, and she misses hearing it. Colonization and genocide took away so much from the indigenous American peoples including their voices and their words. LaPointe's poetry is a tragic reminder of things lost, and it is special and impactful to read about it.
September 4, 2024
feels almost unspeakably cruel to give 2 stars to a poetry collection with under 100 reviews on goodreads but this simply wasn't very good <3
this, from "s.o.t.d.," was my favorite bit:
I do love a spot of effectual enjambment!
but on the whole, lapointe's poetry suffers from the fact that her metaphors are just....woof, way too muddled, messy, lacking in clarity or poetic intrigue, and I am frankly of the opinion that if you're going to use referents this played out (crystals, tarot, little red riding hood) then you've got to be doing something original or interesting with them, and lapointe is not.
AND. if I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: "femmes"—in, for clarity, the bizarre modern usage that intends to encompass some sort of impossible 'women+'—is simply not a coherent category, folks. in the acknowledgements "thank you to literally ever femme in my life who" girl what. who do you mean by that. explain it to me. I'm waiting.
what I am interested in after reading this collection is lapointe's grandmother's work relating to the lushootseed revival. unfortunately for me, lapointe's grandmother did not write this book.
this, from "s.o.t.d.," was my favorite bit:
remember when
we went to Paris
remember the bridge
and the wine
we've never been to Paris
but if your memory
is as bad as mine
there is no one
to blow our cover
[...]
maybe one day
we'll marry
other people
and we won't be
at the other's
wedding
I do love a spot of effectual enjambment!
but on the whole, lapointe's poetry suffers from the fact that her metaphors are just....woof, way too muddled, messy, lacking in clarity or poetic intrigue, and I am frankly of the opinion that if you're going to use referents this played out (crystals, tarot, little red riding hood) then you've got to be doing something original or interesting with them, and lapointe is not.
AND. if I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: "femmes"—in, for clarity, the bizarre modern usage that intends to encompass some sort of impossible 'women+'—is simply not a coherent category, folks. in the acknowledgements "thank you to literally ever femme in my life who" girl what. who do you mean by that. explain it to me. I'm waiting.
what I am interested in after reading this collection is lapointe's grandmother's work relating to the lushootseed revival. unfortunately for me, lapointe's grandmother did not write this book.
August 12, 2024
These Milkweed Press titles are all hits, no misses.
These poems are profound and sad, and I'm sure a lot went over my head; the poet's style is beautiful and dreamy, and I know I'll catch things I missed when I reread it in the future.
Be forewarned, there are a number of poems in here that address miscarriage, which may be particularly difficult for some readers.
These poems are profound and sad, and I'm sure a lot went over my head; the poet's style is beautiful and dreamy, and I know I'll catch things I missed when I reread it in the future.
Be forewarned, there are a number of poems in here that address miscarriage, which may be particularly difficult for some readers.
March 7, 2024
I really enjoyed this collection of poems, and some of them were wrenching and some of them gave me chills and some of them were heartbreakingly beautiful.
Some of my favorite lines:
But to fall in love with the girl /
is to fall in love with the curse
instead it's Disney's Pocahontas /
her animated dad with his hands up /
these white men are dangerous /
and I come running
I have take the sun
for a lover a foolish
thing since I have
always been the
moon
Some of my favorite lines:
But to fall in love with the girl /
is to fall in love with the curse
instead it's Disney's Pocahontas /
her animated dad with his hands up /
these white men are dangerous /
and I come running
I have take the sun
for a lover a foolish
thing since I have
always been the
moon
November 30, 2024
Rose Quartz is a gorgeous poetry collection by Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe, a Coast Salish author from the Nooksack and Upper Skagit tribes. The poems in this magical collection explore the sense of sacredness in the everydayness world, from man made cities to nature, from relationships and sexual intimacy to the narrator’s own identity. Blended in with witchy imagery is folklore and pop culture, revealing a full spectrum of poetic resonance.
"Rain soaked and weary, over mountains, over roads. I am looking for something other than the glow of headlights, beyond the river, beyond the mall. Something bigger than the blue night. A fight against the cold. I crest the hill into free fall. Trees shape-shift into buildings. The river has always been a highway, cans of beer like fish, silver in my bag. I can last out here. The men in cars have changed into wolves."
from “Little Red: Against Me”
"I grind belladonna
opium poppies
and datura
the skin of a toad and
seven rosebuds into
a red paste
taste my lover on my
tongue and open
the sky"
from “Rosewood”
"Rain soaked and weary, over mountains, over roads. I am looking for something other than the glow of headlights, beyond the river, beyond the mall. Something bigger than the blue night. A fight against the cold. I crest the hill into free fall. Trees shape-shift into buildings. The river has always been a highway, cans of beer like fish, silver in my bag. I can last out here. The men in cars have changed into wolves."
from “Little Red: Against Me”
"I grind belladonna
opium poppies
and datura
the skin of a toad and
seven rosebuds into
a red paste
taste my lover on my
tongue and open
the sky"
from “Rosewood”
May 8, 2024
Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe is a significant young author in the Pacific Northwest (where I live), and this first collection of her poetry lives up to the hype, combining mysticism, rock n' roll, and Native American culture to articulate the challenges of being a creative indigenous person in a world that has historically been hostile to spirits like hers.
All of the verses in this collection are worthwhile, but "Sparkwood and 21", "Newlywed" and "Redwoods" stood out for me particularly as examples of what LaPointe is capable of expressing with directness and not a little bit of fire, speaking boldly while not hiding personal vulnerabilities. It's powerful stuff, and I plan to read more of her work in the near future.
All of the verses in this collection are worthwhile, but "Sparkwood and 21", "Newlywed" and "Redwoods" stood out for me particularly as examples of what LaPointe is capable of expressing with directness and not a little bit of fire, speaking boldly while not hiding personal vulnerabilities. It's powerful stuff, and I plan to read more of her work in the near future.
November 16, 2023
I am learning to love poetry. The way it can unveil a soul, explore trauma, hope and loss. I found Rose Quartz to be a collection of poems from the soul. Some I understood the first round, some I had to read and savor for the message to sink in.
Read
January 31, 2025DNFing on page 16. I think the nicest angle I can light this in is that this style is just not for me. And I loved the cover.
April 7, 2025
Too many great poems to list but the final section in general was particularly strong.
March 29, 2025
Unfortunately, not for me. I'm so specific about poetry, rarely do I find anything that really resonates with me. A lot of the poems were so metaphorical I had no idea what was happening, pretty words yes, compression not so much. Majority of what I did understand I didn't really gain anything from. The Rose Quartz/The Lovers section was definitely the strongest, The Lost Boys being my favorite poem.
November 24, 2023
A couple winners here, but I read this in just a couple sittings, couldn’t stop looking for something, and left feeling like I had a Francesca Lea Block fever dream.
December 4, 2025
“For the girls who scattered breadcrumbs and never found their way home, and invented one instead…”
This was, by far, one of the most impactful and skillfully executed collections of poetry (and prose) that I have ever picked up. It is genius and heartbreaking and prophetic, lays bare the simplicity hidden behind complexity, the healing hidden behind the wound. With that said, the poetry speaks for itself, so I leave you below my highlights and what each corresponding tarot to each section can mean.
Ace of Wands meaning: new beginnings, creativity, passion, and action; a burst of creativity and the start of new ventures.
** Teach me to Say I Love You **
“in your language
I have forgotten how to speak
something caught in my throat
a fish bone splintering me
into something quiet
muted and starlike
lost in a sky”
“teach me to say
just stay stay put stay here
because I have forgotten
to be inside my own body”
“whatever my body has become
beneath your tongue
conquered and ugly
malformed and mispronounced”
“teach me a word
better than survivor”
“teach me to speak
in a language older than words
not of white men
whose tongues touch everything
quiet yourself and listen”
** The Canoe My Grandmother Gave Me **
“We learn to say
I just let it happen
we learn to use words
in forgotten language
I learned to hold my breath
beneath the currents
unaware of the boat
on the riverbank
waiting there”
** Violet Rose **
“A pitcher of milk spilling across
the kitchen floor a birth of stars
falling emptying the sky bringing
the cosmos straight into my living
room into my body filling my eyes
blinked me black and silver devoid
of life now I am celestial cold and
flickering planets forming from the
stardust in me ovarian cysts and
sll the tiny stones that circle
saturn orbiting empty”
** Obscurial and Other Spells for Survival **
“a firework turned inside out”
“so the girl learns loneliness
and how to climb trees”
“a fire that eats itself
back to blackness”
“when she thought to release it
neither scissors nor seam ripper
would sever it
if Peter Pan could somehow
escape his shadow why not her
but the darkness clung harder
she learned to like the taste of it
ate it every day back
into the bloodstream”
“a hairline fracture
over time cracks
even the foundation”
Eight of Swords meaning: self-imposed restrictions and a victim mentality; trapped, confined, and backed into a corner with your hands tied.
** Black Salt **
“Draw me encircled
in something other than
than gasoline. I am
tired of burning—“
** Beekeeper **
“the burn you learn to ignore
because your tongue tastes
of honey”
** The Black Lodge **
“I should have not tried to follow her down, to follow the lure of breadcrumbs. But one by one I touched them to my fingertips and ate them. I wore a vial of poison around my neck and held death for safekeeping. And there was nobody.”
** Breadcrumbs **
“but you knew better
something about gingerbread and sweets
a fear so real you crawled out
leaving the glow of the static ghosts
dancing on the TV”
The Lovers meaning: romance, harmony, unity, but also crossroads and choices; passions, desire, and strong emotions are at play.
** Rose Quartz **
“fragrant roses plucked one by one
dropped them
to the ground
like a bonfire of spinning wheels
it was preventative”
** Snow-White **
“The taste on tongue metallic. How everything frosted over looks like heaven. Disappointing and sterile. Take one.”
** In the Belly of the Wolf **
“I am waiting, but for what? There is no huntsman.”
** Fox Hunt **
“I’d scare you
it’s the first thing
you say to me”
“you’re a specter
in a nice shirt
full of tequila
an apparition
haunting the lobby”
“because even as a child
I always loved
a villain”
“In my dreams we’re taxidermied
all hair and bone
animals open and frozen
locked in wanting
memory is funny
like that”
** S.O.T.D. **
“mixtapes are the new
smoke signals”
“remember when
we went to Paris
remember the bridge
and the wine
we’ve never been to Paris
but if your memory
is as bad as mine
there is no one
to blow our cover”
“so let us dance awhile
and the miles between us are
only part of the choreography”
“maybe one day
we’ll marry
other people
and we won’t be
at the other’s
wedding
but we’ll raise a glass
and ask
have you heard this one”
“a photograph
a cup of coffee
the stranger
at the show”
** The Lost Boys **
“but this highway is haunted
the coast and its ghosts remind me
that I am broken”
The High Priestess meaning: intuition, sacred knowledge, and the subconscious mind; the divine feminine and an imperative to follow your instincts.
** Lifting the Sky **
“in the distance
the clouds begin to fall
gray rain too far to matter”
“the waves only exist
because we can hear them
beyond the driftwood”
** This Riverbank **
“they want to hold on to
something but I am
already smoke knee-
deep in freezing water”
“because none of this matters”
** Half Moon Bay II **
“Here on the coast
things go missing”
“I fall in love with distance
the crashing waves
that will outlast us”
** In the Poison Garden **
“You said of my family we
were cursed specifically the
women sick
unable to be in my body I
got in the bath instead
blood red”
“here is where I keep seeds in
my DNA you’ll find a
catalogue a bouquet
of heirlooms coursing
written inside my body a
history.”
“of the women of my family you
said addiction said submission”
** Redwoods **
“and what’s left to say
about old wood”
“ignore the Trump signs
forget the fact I’m not allowed
to pump my own gas”
** Huntress **
“beneath a fat gray sky
clouds more threat than snow
did they know
what we would become”
“the mistake
was in the caption
how the photographer
assumed the other wolf
was male”
This was, by far, one of the most impactful and skillfully executed collections of poetry (and prose) that I have ever picked up. It is genius and heartbreaking and prophetic, lays bare the simplicity hidden behind complexity, the healing hidden behind the wound. With that said, the poetry speaks for itself, so I leave you below my highlights and what each corresponding tarot to each section can mean.
Ace of Wands meaning: new beginnings, creativity, passion, and action; a burst of creativity and the start of new ventures.
** Teach me to Say I Love You **
“in your language
I have forgotten how to speak
something caught in my throat
a fish bone splintering me
into something quiet
muted and starlike
lost in a sky”
“teach me to say
just stay stay put stay here
because I have forgotten
to be inside my own body”
“whatever my body has become
beneath your tongue
conquered and ugly
malformed and mispronounced”
“teach me a word
better than survivor”
“teach me to speak
in a language older than words
not of white men
whose tongues touch everything
quiet yourself and listen”
** The Canoe My Grandmother Gave Me **
“We learn to say
I just let it happen
we learn to use words
in forgotten language
I learned to hold my breath
beneath the currents
unaware of the boat
on the riverbank
waiting there”
** Violet Rose **
“A pitcher of milk spilling across
the kitchen floor a birth of stars
falling emptying the sky bringing
the cosmos straight into my living
room into my body filling my eyes
blinked me black and silver devoid
of life now I am celestial cold and
flickering planets forming from the
stardust in me ovarian cysts and
sll the tiny stones that circle
saturn orbiting empty”
** Obscurial and Other Spells for Survival **
“a firework turned inside out”
“so the girl learns loneliness
and how to climb trees”
“a fire that eats itself
back to blackness”
“when she thought to release it
neither scissors nor seam ripper
would sever it
if Peter Pan could somehow
escape his shadow why not her
but the darkness clung harder
she learned to like the taste of it
ate it every day back
into the bloodstream”
“a hairline fracture
over time cracks
even the foundation”
Eight of Swords meaning: self-imposed restrictions and a victim mentality; trapped, confined, and backed into a corner with your hands tied.
** Black Salt **
“Draw me encircled
in something other than
than gasoline. I am
tired of burning—“
** Beekeeper **
“the burn you learn to ignore
because your tongue tastes
of honey”
** The Black Lodge **
“I should have not tried to follow her down, to follow the lure of breadcrumbs. But one by one I touched them to my fingertips and ate them. I wore a vial of poison around my neck and held death for safekeeping. And there was nobody.”
** Breadcrumbs **
“but you knew better
something about gingerbread and sweets
a fear so real you crawled out
leaving the glow of the static ghosts
dancing on the TV”
The Lovers meaning: romance, harmony, unity, but also crossroads and choices; passions, desire, and strong emotions are at play.
** Rose Quartz **
“fragrant roses plucked one by one
dropped them
to the ground
like a bonfire of spinning wheels
it was preventative”
** Snow-White **
“The taste on tongue metallic. How everything frosted over looks like heaven. Disappointing and sterile. Take one.”
** In the Belly of the Wolf **
“I am waiting, but for what? There is no huntsman.”
** Fox Hunt **
“I’d scare you
it’s the first thing
you say to me”
“you’re a specter
in a nice shirt
full of tequila
an apparition
haunting the lobby”
“because even as a child
I always loved
a villain”
“In my dreams we’re taxidermied
all hair and bone
animals open and frozen
locked in wanting
memory is funny
like that”
** S.O.T.D. **
“mixtapes are the new
smoke signals”
“remember when
we went to Paris
remember the bridge
and the wine
we’ve never been to Paris
but if your memory
is as bad as mine
there is no one
to blow our cover”
“so let us dance awhile
and the miles between us are
only part of the choreography”
“maybe one day
we’ll marry
other people
and we won’t be
at the other’s
wedding
but we’ll raise a glass
and ask
have you heard this one”
“a photograph
a cup of coffee
the stranger
at the show”
** The Lost Boys **
“but this highway is haunted
the coast and its ghosts remind me
that I am broken”
The High Priestess meaning: intuition, sacred knowledge, and the subconscious mind; the divine feminine and an imperative to follow your instincts.
** Lifting the Sky **
“in the distance
the clouds begin to fall
gray rain too far to matter”
“the waves only exist
because we can hear them
beyond the driftwood”
** This Riverbank **
“they want to hold on to
something but I am
already smoke knee-
deep in freezing water”
“because none of this matters”
** Half Moon Bay II **
“Here on the coast
things go missing”
“I fall in love with distance
the crashing waves
that will outlast us”
** In the Poison Garden **
“You said of my family we
were cursed specifically the
women sick
unable to be in my body I
got in the bath instead
blood red”
“here is where I keep seeds in
my DNA you’ll find a
catalogue a bouquet
of heirlooms coursing
written inside my body a
history.”
“of the women of my family you
said addiction said submission”
** Redwoods **
“and what’s left to say
about old wood”
“ignore the Trump signs
forget the fact I’m not allowed
to pump my own gas”
** Huntress **
“beneath a fat gray sky
clouds more threat than snow
did they know
what we would become”
“the mistake
was in the caption
how the photographer
assumed the other wolf
was male”
May 1, 2023
I got all the feels.
Richly evocative, personal, traumatic, raw, and reflective; and as a NW native I found even more resonance. Certain stanzas have taken up residence in my head, popping up at unexpected moments. I want to reread it already.
Richly evocative, personal, traumatic, raw, and reflective; and as a NW native I found even more resonance. Certain stanzas have taken up residence in my head, popping up at unexpected moments. I want to reread it already.
June 22, 2023
Beautiful language and imagery, deeply personal, and overall excellent aesthetic vibes.
June 19, 2024
As I write this, a debate rages on social media about whether or not a three-star review is “good.” For me? Yes, a three-star review is good. It means that I liked the book, am glad I read it, and would recommend it to others. I only give five-star to books that completely blow me away and/or I will re-read.
So, yes, Rose Quartz: Poems was good. The poetry is beautiful, the imagery compelling and vivid, the pace and composition of the sections make sense. I can see many connecting with the themes of growth, finding oneself, navigating a difficult relationship, and finding peace. My timing of this read meant that I did not relate to these themes as much as I would if I was at a point of struggling. Because I’m already at peace, the emotion and passion of the words didn’t “hit” with me.
I picked this up thanks to a recommendation from my local indie bookseller. To tick a reading challenge box, I needed a “book of poetry by a person of color published independently.” She offered several choices but I liked the idea of reading poetry by an Indigenous woman who lives just up the coast from me. The pieces of her heritage that she included within the poems? Those were the parts that I absolutely loved.
So, yes, Rose Quartz: Poems was good. The poetry is beautiful, the imagery compelling and vivid, the pace and composition of the sections make sense. I can see many connecting with the themes of growth, finding oneself, navigating a difficult relationship, and finding peace. My timing of this read meant that I did not relate to these themes as much as I would if I was at a point of struggling. Because I’m already at peace, the emotion and passion of the words didn’t “hit” with me.
I picked this up thanks to a recommendation from my local indie bookseller. To tick a reading challenge box, I needed a “book of poetry by a person of color published independently.” She offered several choices but I liked the idea of reading poetry by an Indigenous woman who lives just up the coast from me. The pieces of her heritage that she included within the poems? Those were the parts that I absolutely loved.
July 5, 2025
The poems that expose the writer’s soul for the world to see. To truly understand a person is to read their poetry. A collection that expands beyond the collective with these ideas that centralize what it means to be misunderstood. Popular horror and science fiction references are found throughout her poetry – absolutely a fan! Hauntingly elegant.
She utilizes diction and plays with variations of the line poem to express her writing. She challenges the prose poem by experimenting with the form within. The tenderness of her soul is expressed through each word. This poetic journey begins with a pretty cover that invites you on this mystical journey! Poems to read when you feel most vulnerable or need some enchanting inspiration.
She utilizes diction and plays with variations of the line poem to express her writing. She challenges the prose poem by experimenting with the form within. The tenderness of her soul is expressed through each word. This poetic journey begins with a pretty cover that invites you on this mystical journey! Poems to read when you feel most vulnerable or need some enchanting inspiration.
August 3, 2023
I began to read this collection before having read the author's lyrical autobiographical "Red Paint", stopped after one poem, read "Red Paint", and then came back and read the rest of this. I'm so glad I did it in that order -- if you're the kind of poetry reader who wants as much context as possible, you'll have a much richer experience. I'm not sure I would have understood enough, without having done that. She's got a real gift for condensing heartbreaking things you can't look at directly into vivid storyline themes, and then for drawing them through the whole collection like arteries, vital threads of connection between pieces that underlie the whole.
July 23, 2024
I loved the mix of Indigenous identity and other topics such as love, heart ache, and mental illness. Normally with Indigenous poetry it focuses solely on being Indigenous, the Indigenous struggle, and I love those books too, but this felt like a good mix of both being Indigenous and being human. You don’t forget this is from an Indigenous person’s perspective as it is etched in every poem.
My favorite poem was Rose Quartz. The imagery that was evoked was stunning and heart wrenching. The follow up poem at the end was full circle and I love how they paired and how they come together pages apart.
Rep: Coast Salish poet, depression.
My favorite poem was Rose Quartz. The imagery that was evoked was stunning and heart wrenching. The follow up poem at the end was full circle and I love how they paired and how they come together pages apart.
Rep: Coast Salish poet, depression.
December 3, 2023
⭐️4.5 stars⭐️
I’m not going to pretend that I fully get poetry as a whole, nor did I understand every work in this collection, but I did really enjoy reading through it. I liked how she set the book up - with categories/chapters based on tarot cards and crystals - as well as how she included many poems under the same or similar titles, showing a running theme or continuation.
I bookmarked many of her poems throughout and will definitely come back to them. Overall, very pleased with my first-ever reading of a poetry collection!
I’m not going to pretend that I fully get poetry as a whole, nor did I understand every work in this collection, but I did really enjoy reading through it. I liked how she set the book up - with categories/chapters based on tarot cards and crystals - as well as how she included many poems under the same or similar titles, showing a running theme or continuation.
I bookmarked many of her poems throughout and will definitely come back to them. Overall, very pleased with my first-ever reading of a poetry collection!
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