Praise for The Next Sky
"Bitsui delivers a dense and intensely lyrical fourth collection interweaving the elemental body and myth. In the title sequence, Bitsui's lines articulate the 'meat-fragrant slits/ in our speech patterns, ' invoking the Coyote trickster god of Navajo mythology along with the terrestrial animal, 'eyeholes punctured/ with coyote teeth.' The volume is uniquely arranged: the primordial, expressionistic long title poem is followed by four shorter, more narrative lyrics. . . . Bitsui balances eschatological vision with moments of intimacy and memorable music, as when a mother ('Amá') is described bathing 'her naked son . . . his glistening/ brown back; oil-black/ slick hair pressed flat.' . . . The book shimmers with imagistic intensity. It's an enduring achievement."--Publishers Weekly
"In The Next Sky (Copper Canyon, Fall), Diné poet Sherwin Bitsui engages intimately, almost spiritually, with the landscape. . . ."--Library Journal
Praise for Sherwin Bitsui
"Bitsui's poetry is elegant, probative and original. His vision connects worlds."--New Mexico Magazine
"His images can tilt on the side of surrealism, yet his work can be compellingly accessible."--Arizona Daily Star
"His poems are wide and deep arroyos and mesas of human perception, conceptual word paintings born of agony and joy."--Joy Harjo
"Bitsui's poetry highlights a difference between how it may be read inside and outside of Native American communities. 'Non-Indigenous readers are permitted, even invited, to read such poetry, ' Reed says, 'only to have the fullness of its meaning withheld."--Pleiades
