GENESIS

Description

“Crisosto Apache’s collection is mesmerizing for its experimental formal variations. Inspired by Dine’ weaving methods, Apache creates ornate formal compositions coupled with a recursive reading experience. Ranging from fragmentation to prose block, formal considerations reflect the content selected for each poem. For instance, “K’us tádini tsąąbi’ +2: [38 Necks +2]” discusses the hanging of 38 Dakota men upon the orders of Abraham Lincoln, with each stanza using indentation to pace the poem counting up until reaching the number 38... With the use of Apache Language (Ndé Bizaa) & Navajo Language (Diné Bizaad) Apache creates a cascading resonance where the reader is asked to separate themselves from what they know of Native American history, and consider the Indigenous experience in America through Apache’s experiences on the reservation and in urban settings. Through these locations we are exposed to meditations on sexuality, Native American identity, and historical trauma... Genesis delivers an experience that is both kinetic and visceral.” —Santee Frazier

“[G]estation to birth of new generation, this book gives monumental range to the genesis of identity and charts the pathway to soul of self. A long-awaited phenomenal debut.” —Allison Adelle Hedge Coke

“Entirely new, experimental, and worth the effort of reading. Passionate in places, contemplative in others, he travels from that ancient past toward the distant universe.”—Linda Hogan

“GENESIS whirls. These poems record not only the nine months of history occurring while the poet formed in gestation... it attempts to make sense of the whirling world of chromosomes, of snow across body-laden battlefields, the whirl of strobe lights in a sex club, and the spiral which meets in the center where isdzán and haastiń (woman and man) become indistinguishable. Apache’s collection challenges our footing on things we thought we knew.”—James Thomas Stevens