Halfbreed Chronicles

Wendy Rose

Some of Rose’s reputation rests on the poems and drawings in this early volume.  These poems have been praised for their sense of wholeness, their respect for the lives and cultures of their subjects, and in particular for the compassionate final section that brings together stories of oppression and genocide from around the world.  Some frequently anthologized poems include “Loo-Wit,” “Dancing for the Whiteman,” “Truganinny,” and “Julia.” 

“Rose moves in ever-enlarging circles of concern, from considerations of self, to the Hopis, to other tribes, and to national and international affairs.”—Susan Scarberry-Garcia

“This new book . . . is her strongest. It moves her into the company of such writers as Neruda of Chile and Achebe of Nigeria, who speak as she does against the inequities of both past and present and in the hope of a new tomorrow where . . . the work of ‘cleaning/healing/rejoicing’ can begin.”—Joseph Bruchac

remember I am a garnet woman
whirling into precision
as a crystal arithmetic
or a cluster and so

why the dream
in my mouth,
the flutter of blackbirds
at my wrists?

In the morning
there you are
at the edge of the river
on one knee

and you are selecting me
from among polished stones
more definitely red or white
between which tiny serpents swim

and you see
that my body is blood
frozen into giving birth
over and over, a single motion,

and you touch the matrix
shattered in winter
and begin to piece together
the shape of me

wanting the curl in your palm
to be perfect
and the image less clouded,
less mixed,

but you always see
just in time
working me around
the last hour of the day

there is a small light
in the smoke, a tiny sun
in the blood, so deep
it is there and not there,

so pure
it is singing.
             —“If I Am Too Brown or Too White For You”

5½ x 8½ inches • 71 pages • ISBN 0-931122-39-2 • $8.95