Publisher Description

An exquisite series of meditations on memory, evanescence and the land. Randy Lundy draws deeply from his Cree heritage and equally from European and Asian traditions. Readers will be reminded by turns of Simon Ortiz, PÓr Lagerkvist, and Jane Hirshfield. This is the mind of prayer, a seeing and re-seeing of the immense cyclic beauty of the earth. "Lundy has entered the place where the masters reside. His poems join the shades that walk among them. There aren't many people who get to that place and sometimes it can feel very lonely there, but the masters are saved by the brilliant and humble work they have done, their poems the crevices in our lives where the light shines through." -- Patrick Lane, author of Washita "Randy Lundy's poems bring forward the spirit of his Cree ancestry, and place our species humbly among the creatures of Earth—who are all observed with deep reverence and perceptive care." -- Don McKay, author of Strike/Slip "This is the book of poems I've been waiting for … His poems burn us, feed us, and make us feel beloved even if we have been broken. Language, as he uses it, holds us and leads us to a place where we can mourn and pray and wonder." -- Lorna Crozier, author of What the Soul Doesn't Want

Author Biography

Randy Lundy is a member of the Barren Lands (Cree) First Nation. Born in northern Manitoba, he has lived most of his life in Saskatchewan. He has published three previous books, Under the Night Sun , Gift of the Hawk , and Blackbird Song . An award-winning poet, his work has been widely anthologized.

Review

What meditative power there is in Blackbird Song, what pure acts of attention and remembrance. Randy Lundy's poems bring forward the spirit of his Cree ancestry, and place our species humbly among the creatures of Earth--who are all observed with deep reverence and perceptive care.... We should be grateful to Randy Lundy for bringing his wise, wry, visionary, large-hearted meditations into language, and for demonstrating to his readers and himself the need for 'seeing with another kind of eye.' - Don McKay, author of Strike/Slip
"Lundy has entered the place where the masters reside. His poems join the shades that walk among them. There aren't many people who get to that place and sometimes it can feel very lonely there, but the masters are saved by the brilliant and humble work they have done, their poems the crevices in our lives where the light shines through." -- Patrick Lane, author of Washita
This is the book of poems I've been waiting for.... His poems burn us, feed us, and make us feel beloved even if we have been broken. Language, as he uses it, holds us and leads us to a place where we can mourn and pray and wonder. - Lorna Crozier, author of What the Soul Doesn't Want

Review Quote

What meditative power there is in Blackbird Song, what pure acts of attention and remembrance. Randy Lundy's poems bring forward the spirit of his Cree ancestry, and place our species humbly among the creatures of Earth--who are all observed with deep reverence and perceptive care.... We should be grateful to Randy Lundy for bringing his wise, wry, visionary, large-hearted meditations into language, and for demonstrating to his readers and himself the need for 'seeing with another kind of eye.' - Don McKay, author of Strike/Slip

Promotional "Headline"

Blackbird Song is preoccupied with memory and loss, with life's various traumas, and with the solace that might be possible in relationships with other people and our non-human relations.

Description for Sales People

Randy Lundy is an up-and-coming Indigenous poet whose work will be competitive for national prizes. We'll be promoting his book to relevant poetry journals and creative writing departments in Canada and the U.S.

Details