Original Fire: Selected and New Poems by Louise Erdrich

Original Fire: Selected and New Poems by Louise Erdrich explores religion, death, and life in ways that are thought provoking and emotionally provocative. Some of the poems made me squirm as I read. Some felt like a glimpse inside a world I'll never be part of. Some resonated with me more than I expected. Erdrich writes about the intersection of cultural identities in a world where those identities both uplift and suppress. The poems within Original Fire plays with our perceptions, instincts, and assumptions about the world we inhabit. At times the religion aspects overwhelmed me even as they showed me a glimpse of the way religion permeates life and invades culture. Overall, Original Fire is filled with stories written as poems that spark the imagination and offer an interesting perspective on the interactions between human beings, nature, and other Earthlings.

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