Original Fire: Selected and New Poems

“These molten poems radiate with the ferocity of desire, and in them Erdrich does not spin verse so much as tell tales—of betrayal and revenge, of hunting and being hunted.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune

A passionate book of poetry from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Louise Erdrich.

In this important collection, Erdrich has selected the best poems from her two previous books of poetry, Jacklight and Baptism of Desire, and added 19 new poems. In an entirely unique fashion, Original Fire unfolds the themes and introduces the characters of some of Erdrich’s most acclaimed fiction. The beloved storyteller Nanapush, most recently seen in The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, appears in these poems as the questing rascal Potchikoo. And a series of poems called “The Butcher’s Wife”—dating from 1984—contains, in embryo, the story of her novel, The Master Butchers Singing Club.

In this important new collection, her first in fourteen years, award-winning author Louise Erdrich has selected poems from her two previous books of poetry, Jacklight and Baptism of Desire, and added new poems to compose Original Fire.

Profound and accessible, this collection anticipates and enlarges upon many of the themes, and even the characters, of Erdrich's prose. A sequence of story poems called "The Potchikoo Stories" recounts the life and afterlife of the questing trickster Potchikoo, echoing the wit and humanity of the inimitable, Nanapush, who appears in several of Erdrich's novels, most recently The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse. Similarly, the group of poems called "The Butcher's Wife" contains the germ of Erdrich's most recent novel, The Master Butchers Singing Club.

A powerful new poem, "The Seven Sleepers," forms the core of an entire section of the book and is about the passionate search for the divine in all its forms. The final section, "Original Fire," travels through birth, ordinary life, loss, and redemption. These poems reveal that poetry emerges from what we fear most, and that memory is endurance.

“Erdrich is profoundly sensual, frankly bawdy and slyly comedic.” - Booklist

“Essential reading for fans of Erdrich’s fiction, this volume can be expected to draw poetry readers into the fold.” - Library Journal (starred review)

“Poems of sweet gratitude, voluptuous ecstasy, cutting satire, seething grief, and fiery resolve.” - Booklist

“Artistically impressive and highly entertaining ORIGINAL FIRE …is highly literary poetry born out of a deep, even primal, need to speak as only poetry can, from the heart of individual experience as well as from the center of community.” - Miami Herald

“The poems are hypnotic and retain an emphatic passionate fire.” - Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Artistically impressive and highly entertaining.” - Miami Herald