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list price: $13.99
edition:eBook
also available: Paperback
category: Poetry
published: Mar 2010
ISBN:9781553803164
publisher: Ronsdale Press

Skin Like Mine

by Garry Gottfriedson

tagged: canadian, native american
Description

In Skin Like Mine Garry Gottfriedson offers a suite of poems on what it feels like to be inside the skin of many contemporary native individuals. He pulls no punches as he reflects on the challenges facing native people today. He speaks of minds full of anticipation yet with tongues pointing arrowheads. He tells of how so many native young people are afraid to live / afraid to die / afraid of ourselves. As he looks around what was once a pristine natural environment, he finds the forests being / eaten from the inside out. In the poem Political Dysfunction, Gottfriedson tackles the many problems with present-day band management. But as the collection passes the midpoint, a new voice begins to be heard as Gottfriedson reflects on the mysterious Horsechild, and he says: I will bind the drying racks once again / with hemp to make ready / The rows for drying salmon / so that beneath your skin / the mountains will be forever abundant. The age-old rituals of the people and of the land return to provide comfort and assurance that some things never change.

About the Author
Garry Gottfriedson, from the Secwepemc Nation (Shuswap), was born, raised and lives in Kamloops, B.C. His published works include five volumes of poetry, as well as nonfiction and children’s fiction. Whiskey Bullets was a finalist for the Anskohk Aboriginal Award, and Skin Like Mine was shortlisted for the Canadian Author’s Literary Award for Poetry. He is an international ambassador for Indigenous writing, with his poetry and other works being anthologized around the world.
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