Out There Somewhere (Sun Tracks, V. 49)

Rating:
Summary: Secret Pleasures
Review: The "stars" of American Indian literature--James Welch, Leslie Silko, Scott Momaday--are only the beautiful surface of the genre. Dive deeper, and you will find treasures like Peter Blue Cloud, Ray Young Bear, Anita Endrezze, and the incomparable Simon J. Ortiz.

Ortiz writes with a brilliance and clarity all Americans could aspire to, and this little collection of pieces, modulating from the grim depths of alcoholism and prison to the open spaces filled with joyful children, is representative of his work. His meditation on a sparrow's nest is worth the cover charge, discussion of the place of English in the mind of the Indian artist ("Beauty All Around") is a model of deeply felt exposition, and the cycle of poems on whether Indians exist is both witty and tragic.

Taste the best, a literary flavor perhaps too exotic for the general reader, but worth the adventure. This is a writer to remember and return to.