The Next Sky

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