no/sixteenths

Mark Gudgel suffers from an illness far in excess of typical white guilt. It is that near-suicidal self-assault of historical truth. All the euphemistic prisms thorough which the harsh light of time is bent into glow-in-the-dark velvet paintings the brilliant spectra of Navaho weavings or carved cedar cigar-store totems he redirects back upon itself - tying himself and all of us together in a knot of all our shame and lies. So as it is true for our Native sisters and brothers reading this book our continent becomes a wasteland in which there are no rest stops nor places to hide. - Greg Kuzma If you are a reader with thin skin you might not want to pursue these poems and stories. They pack a variety of punches - some social others political many religious. More than a few combine the punches and the upshot is a challenging laying-out of the writer's convictions. - William Kloefkorn