The Red Window

by Marianne
Aweagon Broyles

Although he is old now, and his
remaining years
could be counted like loose pocket change,
I imagine him young, clutching a radio,
the echo of artillery fire as discernable
as a bell.
His body tight as the finest weaving.

Somewhere in Arizona, in that moment,
did his mother pause to touch the back
of an empty chair at the table
before getting dinner off the stove?

— “Meeting the Code Talker”

In these poems, Marianne Broyles acknowledges the historic oppression of Native Americans and other peoples, tracking the painful consequences. She also focuses on the resilience and surviving spirit of the people themselves, however wounded. The poems reflect her effort to comprehend the world while seeking to improve it.

In “Estate Sale” and “Bettie Dunback Does Not Rest Here,” she evokes the desperate struggle of people close by us to hold on to their identities despite the forces of death and dissolution.

In “The Son of God” and “Mecca from Our Garage” she sees a similar struggle for dignity among those we take to be outsiders.

In “Crossing Lake Eufaula,” she suggests that an awareness of history may help us to correct false perceptions.

Mild in manner but clear in statement, she offers a strong cure: confronting tribulation and sorrow, she finds cause for empathy, service, and hope.

5½ x 8½ inches • 48 pages • ISBN 978-0-9816693-1-1 • $10.95