National Monuments

I purchased the book National Monuments by Heid E. Erdrich because it won the 2009 Minnesota Book Award for Poetry. What do I like about National Monuments? I like it that she asks a good question, which is "When do the remains of the dead stop being sacred and inviolate, and start being materials for scientists to examine and entrepreneurs to trade?" She writes in the notes at the end: Because the body has become a location, a site and a text to scholars, what would seem violation of a sacred space (say a temple or shrine) has become a legitimatized and urgent need of study. The rules in place to protect our bodies when we die simply to not apply to anyone who has been dead long enough. That seeming contradiction troubles me and made me want to express my dis-ease learning that an ancestor's bones have been crushed for testing. I consider "Dis-ease" a good word for the describing the emotional tone of National Monuments, especially the final section "Discovery: An RSS Feed Series." When do the remains of the dead stop being sacred and inviolate, and start being materials for scientists to examine and entrepreneurs to trade? Heid E. Erdrich's answer to her question is "It should be `Never,' even though it isn't right now." You might disagree with her answer, but her poems will definitely encourage you to think about your answer to the question. Would you donate your body for scientific research after your death? Erdrich is against the very premise (in the poem "Body Works'). And don't get Erdrich started on the Bodies exhibit at the Mall of America. She would consider the creators of that exhibit to be desecrators of sacred spaces. I like it that one doesn't have to belong to any particular nation (like the Ojibway, to which Erdrich belongs) to appreciate her poetry. That's because she asks the kind of questions that a poet is supposed to ask. There are some Ojibway themes ("De'an," "Star Blanket Stories"), but her poetry is more addressed to a general audience. I like that Erdrich has created some small series of poems about certain characters. One of the blurbs on the back cover says she is having an argument with the poet William Carlos Williams, but it was too much of an inside joke to me. Williams wrote a poem "To Elsie," and Erdrich wrote a number of poems in National Monuments about various aspects of Elsie's life. I recalled "Madam to You" by Langston Hughes when I read them. Kennewick Man is another character that inspired a group of poems. I sincerely hope that Erdrich will write a book's worth of Elsie poems and Kennewick Man poems. What do I not like about National Monuments? I don't like that I almost stopped reading after I read the poem "Desecrate," the exclamation point for the first section "Grave Markers." Desecrate is a bitter, venom-dripping hate note to Western civilization, describing what it would be like if Western civilization had done to it what was done to the Ojibway and other First Nations. I had just seen the m

From her marginalization as a woman and a Native American (an Ojibway), Erdrich tries to weave herself into the wider world. The fit is always awkward to some degree however. "There are roles no one can fill/in the movie of my life...In the movie of my life/I will just have to play myself. Though my talent lags/who else could I cast?" [from Personality] Erdrich is no good at playing roles others would require of her so she would fit. It's not that she's so committed to or proud of her identity. It's just that she doesn't know how to. Others though know how to fit the marginalized in; as the one who sells the unearthed skull of an aboriginal woman in "eBay Bones": Her tribe "should have buried her more deeply.../Should have known the web would one day/hold our dead in its sacred sites." Edrich holds no bitterness towards those who make it problematic for her to find a good fit or who would commercialize relics of native cultures. These do not do so out of meanness or prejudice. They have no more idea than Erdrich how she would smoothly fit in. Erdrich sees the futility and also the comic aspect of this ideal. "Ki yippee ki ya yaay!/Howah!/Hokah hey...," she chants in "Goodnight."

Heid Erdrich's latest book of poetry "National Monuments" focuses her keen wit and piercing insights to reveal more important monuments than the ones along our interstate highways. Whether speaking of land, ancestral bones, or our own bodies, her poems take us through Native and universal subjects ranging in tones from funny to sad. Some of the poems are in keeping with Erdrich's ability to look at serious Native (and other) issues from an original and humorous point of view; such as the poem Guidelines for the Treatment of Sacred Objects: "Guidelines for the treatment of sacred objects/ that appear or disappear at will/ or that appear larger in rear view mirrors,/ include calling in spiritual leaders such as librarians..." Many of the poems in this collection begin with a quote from newspaper or other clippings, and cover topics like the Kennewick Man, bones being sold on Ebay, Rumsfeld's ghost detainees, and cole slaw. I look forward to reading Erdrich's poetry because her work makes me laugh, gives me a new way to view things, or hands me lines that make me want to splat them down on canvas and swirl them into masterpieces of color and form. Like "Cat-eye marbles encrusting the sandbox like jewels." And this most recent collection of poems doesn't let me down.

Heid Erdrich's third collection of poems is her best yet. Filled with gentle humor, sharp wit, and a great deal of empathy and understanding, "National Monuments" illustrates Erdrich's unique take on contemporary Native culture, and shows us the great strength required of anyone who must navigate between one world and another. The poems are beautifully written.