Billboard in the Clouds

by Suzanne S. Rancourt

Overview

In this remarkable debut book of poems, winner of the Native Writers First Book Award, Suzanne S. Rancourt, presents her experience as a mixed-raced person seeking understanding through relationship with the natural world and dominant culture. Her family portraits are reminiscent of E. A. Robinson; her sensuous nature poems are imbued with love of earth as a "blessing."

Dance

my legs are explosions expressions of lustful wind i converse through cracks in the walls slipping in my true intention like a snow drift on the inside side of a door i pound your chest has become my wailing wall i crave your tongue dusted with words and implications i have something you need

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781931896085
Publisher:	Northwestern University Press
Publication date:	07/01/2004
Pages:	80
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Born and raised in West Central Maine, Suzanne Rancourt is Abenaki, Bear Clan. She is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and the United States Army. Suzanne's manuscript Billboard in the Clouds was the 2001 recipient of the Native Writers First Book Award. Ms. Rancourt holds a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry from Vermont College and a Master of Science degree in Educational Psychology from SUNY, Albany, NY. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals, including The Albany Review, Callaloo, and Cimarron Review.

Table of Contents

I

Soft
Sometimes, We Get Lucky
Embryonic Weave
Even When the Sky Was Clear
South Wind in the Big Horns
Efun
Who Strings the Bow?
When the Air Is Dry
The Incredible Shrinking Bike
Thunderbeings
Crystal Hawk Song
Little Birds
Whose Mouth Do I speak With

II

Haunting Fullblood
Even on Lark Street
Les Montagne
Not the Same Dream
This Breath We Are
Eleanor
The Sorrows of the World Are Not Yours to Keep
Sowing
Warrior Women
Behind the Beaded Curtains
The Blessing
Poolside Manna
Dance
A Light Wind Beyond Temple
Take from my Hair—Memories of Change
Billboard in the Clouds

III

Smything
Where the Apples Fall
Ishnanti
To the Limits, Charles . . . Driving Ms. Mixblood
Heron-man Passed Over
The Wisp
I Am Counting
Sipping
Even in Keflavik
Blossom for a Day
Honor Song

Editorial Reviews

"Suzanne Rancourt's Billboard in the Cloud should go a long way dispelling the common plaint of non-Native New Englanders and upper-state New Yorkers that there are no Indian people in the area. The Abenaki world in these poems resonates just as soundly and clearly as similar Indian worlds do in a Sherman Alexie novel or a Joy Harjo poem. Read this book and you will see what I'm talking about." --Gear Hobson, author of The Last of the Ofos


"Billboard in the Clouds is a volume of poems that intimately weaves the rhythms of the tides, winds, birds, and crops, and the intense strength of poet Suzanne Rancourt's own heartbeat. Rancourt creates her poes with a tongue that is sparse and clean, simple and elegant--rich with music and purpose." --devorah major, author of Brown Glass Windows and where river meets ocean

"With vivid images and ecstatic intensity, Suzanne Rancourt maps the jagged contours of the contemporary landscape. Her family stories show us how history weaves through our lives, how the simplest moments become ceremonies. I am struck by her honesty, her refusal to look away from the most difficult truths. Grounded in the northeast land of her ancestors, her poetry affirms a deep connectedness that is crucial to all our survival." --Cheryl Savageau, author of Dirt Road Home

From the Publisher

"Soft" the brief, absolutely stunning first poem in this debut volume (winner of the Native Writers Circle of the Americas First Book Award) sets the tone of loneliness, hesitancy, and expectation, "like a voice/ waiting for a throat." And yet, drawing on her Native American heritage and those who populated her formative years, Rancourt also invokes a sense of nature providing fulfillment and joy, everything life needs. Essentially, this volume is about the journey that begins in youth and never ends, whether the poet is learning from her father, tribe elders, or ancestors with European roots. These poems might represent a poet early in her career, but they are definitely not by a young poet, as Rancourt mixes her experiences with those of her teachers. While the longer poems can be problematic, the book contains more than enough grace and insight to recommend it for all collections. Rochelle Ratner, formerly with Soho Weekly News Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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