Friday, February 11, 2011

Words Facing East, Poems by Kimberly L. Becker


I'm reading Words Facing East by Kimberly L. Becker. Ms. Becker's love of nature, her investigation of her Indian heritage and  the struggles of her ancestors and their descendants,  her relationship with her son and other significant people in her life create passionate poems of loss, anger, longing, discovery, affirmation and healing.


Shaking the Snow , Come Back to the World  and  Letting Down The Stories  are several poems that I especially enjoyed.  The poems are accessible strong and clear. They are rooted in the earth and human emotion.



 Praise for  the Poems

“How perfectly titled Words Facing East is, for Kimberly L. Becker’s poems reflect the unconquered spirit and eloquence of Eastern Cherokee descendants. Kimberly L. Becker has taken personal Trails of Tears and with her poetry transformed them into Trails of Strong Light and Homecoming.  Here is brave poetry that soars and speaks not just to Indian people but to any human being who is yearning for homeland.”—Susan Deer Cloud






In the Purple and Blue of It

Walking the property
In the late afternoon
In the purple and blue of it
The stand of pines
Fairytale deepness
Past the reservoir
Crunching hulls of black walnuts
Thinking:
This is sacred ground
My eyes devour the view
That I like to claim as mine
But know it’s not, despite the deed
When I return to the anxiety
Of the city
I will long for this land
As a lover for the body of the beloved
I will recall its voice
The trickle of creek
       call of hawks
       rain as it comes up the valley

  Read the rest of this poem.
www.kimberlylbecker.com.