Ceremonies of the Damned by Adrian C. Louis

Abstract

Book Review s 471 indicated in the book’s subtitle— witchcraft and sorcery (by no means precisely the same things, according to Kilpatrick)— the incantations are grouped in four categories: divinatory prayers, protective charms, serious conjuring spells, and purification rites. Since order in the Cherokee cosmos is to be maintained at all costs, and the two means for sustaining it— balance and purification— are to be practiced as needed on a continual basis, knowledge of how to deal with such potentially disruptive forces as witchcraft and sorcery must be made available to the traditional Cherokee. ldi:gawe:sdi, such as these translated and explicated by Kilpatrick, serve to illustrate to an incredibly complex degree how order is maintained in the Cherokee worldview. Titles of such incantations as rendered into English— for example, “To Divine with the Stones,” “To Placate the Angry,” “To Compel an Enemy to Forget,” “To Fix Tobacco for Use at Night to Repel Evil Ones,” “To Destroy an Enemy,” and “Going to the Water”— express the four categories in which a traditional Cherokee, with the assistance of a dida:hnvuii:sgi, can recognize evil and meanness in the form of witchery or sorcery, seek to neutralize it, and then, if successful up to this point, proceed to necessary acts of purification in order to restore the cosmos to fullness and balance. The Night Has a Naked Soul is a much-welcomed addition to Cherokee cultural studies in particular, and to Native American literature in general, and I most enthusiastically commend it to all serious students of our cultures and literatures. A word, though, from one homeboy to another: Alan, come back to Cherokee country in Oklahoma more often so that you can remember that it is Mayes County (not Hayes, as is given twice in the text), a county in the Cherokee Nation named after Joel Mayes, a turn-of-the-century Cherokee chief. Ceremonies of the Dam ned. By Adrian C. Louis. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1997. 80 pages, $10.00. Reviewed by W illiam John Pollett Utah State University, Logan Ceremonies of the Damned is a powerful collection of poems by Adrian C. Louis that portrays a gamut of Native American social, political, and personal issues. Louis has a stance, tone, and style that could be considered harsh, offensive, or realistic, but his ability to provoke meaning and awareness through poetic imagery is a wellhoned skill. He weaves with symbolism and attacks with truth. Pure rage and agony are his tools, while reflection and commentary are qualities that seem to originate from a dream world. The text is orga­ nized into a triptych where the first two sections, “Petroglyphs of 472 WAL 34.4 WINTER 2 0 0 0 Serena” and “Earth Bone Connected to the Spirit Bone,” are com­ plete poems in and of themselves. The third section is a series of poems entitled “This Never-Ending Farewell” that brings all three sections and the title poem, “Ceremonies of the Damned,” full circle with overlapping themes. Louis begins the ceremonies with Serena: “Dark Serena with her broken English. Wild-ass Serena and our Indian dance / of selfdestruction ” (4). Each stanza becomes a vignette telling of sharp truths, showing the remnants of an assimilated culture assembling a new religion, and all the while emphasizing motive and a connection with place. Louis describes with sharp honesty his relationships with his wife and students as well as his yearnings for Serena and the unfathomable. With brutal language and blunt imagery, Louis lassos a widening gyre of American life’s awry destruction, dark lust, and brilliant vision only to unleash them from his deepest holdings. He reaches toward a commentary of American life and ties it all together in the section “Earth Bone Connected to the Spirit Bone.” The identity of self is connected through personal relation­ ships between the poet, the poem, and the eternal. Icons, rituals, and devices from lost and popular culture organize Louis’s percep­ tion of historical happenstance. Rhythms that parallel everything from child’s play to war chants describe the torment of innocence versus decay. Like a prayer for life, “Earth Bone Connected to the Spirit Bone” exposes the hardships and...