In the Hands of the River louise Pretty-shield

Pretty-shield

Mann's language is as plainspoken and clear as it is provocative

she and the teachers use drums to help Nikosis find connection and comfort

over a cup of tea

and an Ojibway

In the Hands of the River louise Pretty-shieldWhat can we do but seek nectar where it blooms, whispers the porous and questioning speaker of In the Hands of the River. With delicate precision, In the Hands of the River subverts traditional poetic forms to show how a childhood for a queer boy of both Cherokee and European heritage happens within and outside dominant narratives of Appalachia. This debut collection weaves ancestral and personal threads of trauma, reclamation, and survival into a