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.