Native Guard [With CD]

This is a thin book (not the gift edition) but it's very deep. It expresses what modern poetry needs & that is a sense of place & a new historical perspective. I picked this up because of the first poem in the book, Theories of Time & Space & I am not disappointed in the least. This book seems to carve "place" & put you there where the author is experiencing "living."

I am not normally a reader of poetry, but I picked up this collection with a book club I belong to. Ms. Trethewey presents at least three views into her life and the history of Mississippi: from a child's eyes, from a glimpse of her mother's life, and through the eyes of a member of the Native Guard, an ex-slave in the Union army. In addition to the compelling background of growing up bi-racial in an oppressive south, the poetry is finely crafted. If you are undecided, give this collection a chance. I don't think you will be dissappointed.

Weighted with temperament and the presence of graveyards, Trethewey paints vivid images of a past aware of its own history and the death of loved ones: "It rained the whole time we were laying her down: Rained from church to grave when we put her down. The suck of mud at our feet was a hollow sound. I wander now among names of the dead. My mother's name, stone pillow for my head." (Graveyard Blues) Finding portents in simple childhood acts, the more mature poet replays such impulses in a new light: "how they'd dry like graveside flowers, rustling when the wind blew- a whisper, treacherous, from the sill. Be taken with yourself, they said to me: Die early, to my mother." (Genus Narcissus) Bi-racial, the poet blends the spirit of her parents with the inevitability of their destinies and the legacy to their child: "Already the words are changing. She is changing from colored to negro, black still years ahead. This is 1966- she is married to a white man- And there are more names for what grows inside her." (My Mother Dreams Another Country) Recounting the discoveries of childhood with a history in the south- war and miscegenation- I am struck by the poet's embrace of time and place, the troubled years of war and the ubiquitous presence of race in daily life; yet she instinctively draws beauty where there is none, an intimate awareness of her parentage and position in a black and white world she treads so intuitively. There is much to be learned simply by listening to Trethewey's words, caught in the magic of her introspective nature. Luan Gaines/ 2007.

This is one of the best new poetry books I've read in years: from the haunting and surprising poems of elegy to the author's mother, in the opening section (including a hymn!) to the middle section's integration of Southern history with personal fact, to the striking end section's reflections on personal history, race, and the impact of being biracial in the South--this is an intricate, accessible, beautiful book. And, the range of forms and subtle but powerful techniques the author uses make this the most unified varied body of work since, maybe, the Beatles made the White Album.

I recommend this book to middle and high school teachers of Lit and History -- a unique approach to history that will grab some kids otherwise just sitting, and a very accessible type of poetry for lit analysis and discussion. Select poems, and parts of poems as you see fit for your audience, but I found it a very good collection for a teacher -- and a a very thought-provoking read.