Instruments of the True Measure: Poems (Volume 83) (Sun Tracks)

Da', Laura

ISBN 10: 0816538271 / ISBN 13: 9780816538270

Published by University of Arizona Press, 2018

About this Item

Ships in a BOX from Central Missouri! May not include working access code. Will not include dust jacket. Has used sticker(s) and some writing or highlighting. UPS shipping for most packages, (Priority Mail for AK/HI/APO/PO Boxes).

Seller Inventory # 002322438U

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Instruments of the True Measure: Poems (Volume 83) (Sun Tracks)
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press
• Publication Date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0816538271
• ISBN 13: 9780816538270
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

Instruments of the True Measure charts the coordinates and intersections of land, history, and culture. Lyrical passages map the parallel lives of ancestral figures and connect dispossessions of the past to lived experiences of the present. Shawnee history informs the collection, and Da’s fascination with uncovering and recovering brings the reader deeper into the narrative of Shawnee homeland. Images of forced removal and frontier violence reveal the wrenching loss and reconfiguration of the Shawnee as a people. The body and history become lands that are measured and plotted with precise instruments.

Surveying and geography underpin the collection, but even as Da’ investigates these signifiers of measurement, she pushes the reader to interrogate their function within the stark atrocities of American history. Da’ laments this harsh dichotomy, observing that America’s mathematical point of beginning is located in the heart of her tribe’s homeland: “I do not have the Shawnee words to describe this place; the notation that is available to me is 40°38´32.61´´ N 80°31´9.76´´ W.”

About the Author

Laura Da’ is a poet and public school teacher. A lifelong resident of the Pacific Northwest, Da’ studied creative writing at the University of Washington and the Institute of American Indian Arts. She is Eastern Shawnee. Her first book, Tributaries, won a 2016 American Book Award. In 2015, Da’ was a Made at Hugo House Fellow and a Jack Straw Fellow. She lives near Seattle with her husband and son.