{"product_id":"9781737405146","title":"Songs, Blood Deep","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"The poems are quiet and powerful, understated and deeply moving.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e—Carter Revard, author of \u003ci\u003eHow the Songs Come Down: New \u0026amp; Selected Poems\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat flows deep from the heart songs of\nthese poems is Gwen Westerman's proud and profound engagement with and\ntransmission of closely held cultural values of the Dakota people.\nOriginating from the prairies of the Great Plains, this is a\ncollection that affirms a passion for family, community, and the\nenvironment. Westerman draws upon both English and the Dakota\nlanguage to celebrate the survival of her people and articulate the\nconflicts of the past and present, so that an enriched future will\nendure. The long opening poem reclaims the Mississippi River as a sacred resource, \"In the beginning\/\u003ci\u003ede Dakota Makoce\/\u003c\/i\u003ethis was a Dakota place.\/The water was pure.\"\u003cfont color=\"#000000\"\u003e\u003cfont face=\"Times New Roman, serif\"\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e \u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/font\u003eHistorical\nmisinformation about the First Peoples is unmasked, the record set\nstraight apart from how explorers and conquering armies have wrongly\nportrayed the past. Herein life-affirming words are\nconveyed from grandmother, to mother, to children and offered as a\ngift to the reader, \"This is my give-away--to touch what is good in you\/with words your heart can hear.\"\u003cfont color=\"#000000\"\u003e\u003cfont face=\"Times New Roman, serif\"\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e \u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gwen Nell Westerman","offers":[{"title":"Holy Cow! Press |  Paperback \/ softback | Trade paperback (US) |  2023-09-29","offer_id":44230064701695,"sku":"9781737405146","price":26.95,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0329\/9075\/7001\/files\/BNCImageAPI_9537f07d-33fc-4ee0-8be5-cf0edd70644a.jpg?v=1692998055","url":"https:\/\/riverbookshop.com\/products\/9781737405146","provider":"River Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}