Strong Feather

<p>In <em>Strong Feather</em> Jennifer Reeser revisits the salient themes of <em>Indigenous</em>-her acclaimed award-winning preceding poetry collection. While the poems in <em>Strong Feather</em> reprise the exposition of a Native American heritage juxtaposed with a mixed European ancestry many of them center on a Native American female character of the author's creation-a poet/prophet/warrior of sorts. Displaying a masterful command of form throughout <em>Strong Feather</em> also includes personal poems translations and tales from Cherokee and other indigenous traditions. The result is a spellbinding and uniquely engaging collection of storytelling mythmaking and inspirational musings energized by a keenly interrogated mixed-race heritage.</p><p><br></p><p>End of the winter middle March</p><p>Waking I find it beneath my quilt</p><p>Clinging to linens the hue of larch</p><p>Softer and whiter than milk when spilt-</p><p>One petite feather. Its hollow hilt</p><p>Pointing toward me is curved and long</p><p>Slightly translucent and at a tilt.</p><p>How has this feather stayed so strong?</p><p>. . . .</p><p><br></p><p><strong>PRAISE FOR <em>STRONG FEATHER</em>:</strong></p><p><br></p><p>What I love most about Jennifer Reeser's poems is their swagger. Not conceit (there's none of that) but rather a delightful confidence in her art and in her judgments. Maybe that's communicated by the title of her new book before we even get to the first poem. Can a feather be strong? You better believe it.</p><p>-John Wilson <em>Englewood Review of Books + Marginalia Review of Books</em></p><p><br></p><p>Jennifer Reeser's Strong Feather continues her personal legacy of applying classical technique to make another world visible. Like Countee Cullen of the Harlem renaissance she is a master of rhyming forms that present life beyond the expected edges of formal verse. Witness the marvelous Shape Shifter a Petrarchan sonnet like no other or the stunning <em>The Courier du Bois and the Savage</em> an ekphrastic poem written as an English ode but conveying a modern message about equality. Her elegant use of rhyming couplets in White Lady concentrate the poem's illumination of contrasting lives. A hundred pages of such treasures will bring you lives you might not otherwise meet and pleasures you would otherwise miss.</p><p>-Arthur Mortensen <em>Expansive Poetry Online</em></p><p><br></p><p><strong>ABOUT THE AUTHOR:</strong></p><p><br></p><p>Jennifer Reeser is the author of six collections of poetry most recently <em>Strong Feather</em> (Able Muse Press 2022) and <em>Indigenous</em> (Able Muse Press 2019) which was awarded Best Poetry Book of 2019 by <em>Englewood Review of Books</em>. Reeser's poems reviews and translations of Russian French along with the Cherokee and various Native American Indian languages have appeared in <em>Poetry Rattle</em> the <em>Hudson Review Recours au Po��me Light Quarterly</em> the <em>Formalist</em> the <em>Dark Horse SALT Able Muse</em> and elsewhere.</p><p><br></p><p> A biracial writer of European American and Native American Indian ancestry Reeser was born in Louisiana and now divides her time between Louisiana and her land on the Cherokee Reservation in Indian Country near Tahlequah Oklahoma capital of the Cherokee Nation of which her family is a part.</p>