Exploding Chippewas: Poems(Triquarterly Books)

A collection of poems exploring a continuing struggle with identity; Everything this poet touches upon is volatile - the poet himself, the people and world around him, ideas and mythologies, the ghosts of memory and the dreams of possible futures, all seem to burst into fragments. Mark Turcotte uses poetry to gather up the pieces - the shards of joy and grief, peace and doubt, strength and temptation, questions and answers - as he tries to define and rediscover what is lost when everyday life becomes explosive. The first part of the book is a series of lyrical poems that all begin with the phrase ""Back when I used to be Indian,"" a self-contradictory concept that strikes at the heart of Turcotte's identity. His absent father and his own experience of fatherhood are the subjects of a second group of poems, leading him to explore the legacy that burdened his father and, in turn, the different kind of legacy that now burdens him. In a third and final group, Turcotte's imagination reaches again into the many flames of his experience, leading toward the title poem, where even the most dangerous of fires become a guiding light.

About the Author :
MARK TURCOTTE (Turtle Mountain Band Anishinaabe) is the 6th Illinois Poet Laureate. He spent his earliest years on North Dakota's Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation and in the migrant camps of the western United States. Later, he grew up in and around Lansing, Michigan. Arriving in Chicago in the spring of 1993 Turcotte rediscovered his love of words and writing and quickly established himself as a unique voice in the city's thriving poetry scene. That summer he was winner of the First Gwendolyn Brooks Open-mic Poetry Award. Turcotte is author of The Feathered Heart, Songs of Our Ancestors, Road Noise, Le Chant de la Route, and Exploding Chippewas (Northwestern University Press). His work has appeared in many national and international literary journals and is included in the new and first ever Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry. Turcotte was the recipient of a 2001-2002 Lannan Foundation Literary Completion Grant. In 2008 he completed an MFA in Creative Writing at Western Michigan University. After graduation he served as the 2008-2009 Visiting Native Writer at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He again lives in Chicago and, since 2009, has been Senior Lecturer and Distinguished-Writer-In-Residence in the English Dept at DePaul University.

Review :
Mark Turcotte's poetry feels like something brand new in Native American literature, like the first step of an original and aboriginal journey. There are no forced apologies or faux confessions here, and no desperate and nostalgic reaches into the past. Turcotte is very present in these powerful and playful poems. - Sherman Alexie; ""I find Mark Turcotte's work to be very harsh, but true. In an age where false sincerity is favored over art, Turcotte's work is a corrective. It is very strong and has won me as a fan."" - Jim Harrison