A new collection by the best-selling author of Jacklight and Baptism of Desire includes key selections from her previous works as well as nineteen new poems, featuring themes and characters from her novels. Reprint. 15,000 first printing. "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. Jacklight Jacklight 3(3) The Woods 6(1) The Strange People 7(2) Captivity 9(3) Owls 12(2) I Was Sleeping Where the Black Oaks Move 14(2) Family Reunion 16(3) Indian Boarding School: The Runaways 19(2) Dear John Wayne 21(2) Manitoulin Ghost 23(2) Three Sisters 25(2) The Lefavor Girls 27(2) Walking in the Breakdown Lane 29(1) The Red Sleep of Beasts 30(5) The Potchikoo Stories The Birth of Potchikoo 35(1) Potchikoo Marries 36(1) How Potchikoo Got Old 37(2) The Death of Potchikoo 39(2) Potchikoo's Life After Death 41(1) How They Don't Let Potchikoo into Heaven 41(1) Where Potchikoo Goes Next 42(2) Potchikoo's Detour 44(1) Potchikoo Greets Josette 45(1) Potchikoo Restored 46(1) Potchikoo's Mean Twin 47(2) How Josette Takes Care of It 49(1) Saint Potchikoo 50(5) The Butcher's Wife The Butcher's Wife 55(2) That Pull from the Left 57(2) The Carmelites 59(1) Clouds 60(4) Shelter 64(3) The Slow Sting of Her Company 67(2) Here Is a Good Word for Step-and-a-Half Waleski 69(2) Portrait of the Town Leonard 71(2) Leonard Commits Redeeming Adulteries with All the Women in Town 73(2) Unexpected Dangers 75(2) My Name Repeated on the Lips of the Dead 77(3) A Mother's Hell 80(2) Rudy Comes Back 82(2) New Vows 84(3) The Seven Sleepers Fooling God 87(2) The Sacraments 89(8) The Seven Sleepers 97(10) Avila 107(2) Saint Clare 109(7) Mary Magdalene 116(1) Christ's Twin 117(2) Orozco's Christ 119(1) The Savior 120(2) The Buffalo Prayer 122(1) Rez Litany 123(6) Original Fire The Fence 129(2) Ninth Month 131(1) Birth 132(1) New Mother 133(2) Sorrows of the Frog Woman 135(5) Time 140(1) Spring Evening on Blind Mountain 141(1) Blue 142(1) Thistles 143(1) Best Friends in the First Grade 144(1) Little Blue Eyeglasses 145(1) Grief 146(1) Wood Mountain 147(2) Advice to Myself 149(2) Morning Fire 151(2) Asiniig 153