{"product_id":"beading-water-mary-leauna-christensen-9780819502957","title":"Beading Water","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eDebut collection examines Indigenous loss and recovery, both personal and cultural\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBeading Water\u003c\/i\u003e, the first book of poetry by Mary Leauna Christensen, is an act of mourning and an act of making. To bead water, as the title suggests, is to string together one's tears, to gather loss drop by drop and shape it into art and meaning. Christensen, a mixed-race woman and enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, grieves her grandmother, her mother, and the maternal line that connects her to ancestral land and language. In these poems, mourning itself becomes a ceremony.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe collection moves across multiple forms and languages, asking how an Indigenous person navigates loss in a landscape that has never been post-colonial. Christensen's identity as an amalgamation of Indigenous, Latinx, and European heritage deepens these questions, expanding the book's resonance to broader conversations about mixed heritage, belonging, and self-determination. Throughout, the speaker comes to understand that the bond to Indigeneity persists through death and colonial erasure, and that to name this persistence is itself an act of reclamation. In its emotional reach and formal ambition, \u003ci\u003eBeading Water \u003c\/i\u003espeaks to anyone who has had to grieve a person and a world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[Sample Poem]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDAUGHTER PRAYER\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWithin me\/ a room is built for you\/ great grandmother\u003cbr\u003egreat aunts\/ a fire burns warm in the center\/ save your\u003cbr\u003ehands \u0026amp; knees\/ those strong backs\/ here\/ floors always\u003cbr\u003eglisten\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ei remember\/ so little\/ Appalachian fog\/ at the funeral\u003cbr\u003ehome you wore pantyhose \u0026amp; black\/ i've poured coffee\u003cbr\u003einto Styrofoam\/ nothing is wasted\/ this building once\u003cbr\u003eschoolhouse\/ a small basketball court\/ still outside\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ewhat is the difference\/ between desks \u0026amp; pews\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003edaughters granddaughters nieces\/ you remember\u003cbr\u003esmall\/ press your lips\/ to cool foreheads\/ before\u003cbr\u003ecasket lids close\/ you've only grown old\/ buried girls\u003cbr\u003eare burying yourselves now\/ in same red dirt\/ how\u003cbr\u003erecognizable are namesakes\/ grandmother mother me\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eme gravedigger\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eme home maker\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Mary Leauna Christensen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0819502952\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780819502957\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Wesleyan University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/23\/2027\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 72\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.25lbs","brand":"Mary Leauna Christensen","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":49084310585599,"sku":"9780819502957","price":15.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/beading-water-mary-leauna-christensen-9780819502957","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}