E-Book Overview
“A name creates life patterns,” Allison Adelle Hedge Coke writes, “which form and shape a life; my life, like my name, must have been formed many times over then handed to me to realize.” Rock, Ghost, Willow, Deer is Hedge Coke’s narrative of that realization, the award-winning poet and writer’s searching account of her life as a mixed-blood woman coming of age off-reservation, yet deeply immersed in her Cherokee and Huron heritage. In a style at once elliptical and achingly clear, Hedge Coke describes her schizophrenic mother and the abuse that often overshadowed her childhood; the torments visited upon her, the rape and physical violence; and those she inflicted on herself, the alcohol and drug abuse. Yet she managed to survive with her dreams and her will, her sense of wonder and promise undiminished. The title Rock, Ghost, Willow, Deer refers to the life-revelations that brought Hedge Coke through her trials, the melding of language and experience that has brought order to her life. In this book, Hedge Coke shares the insights she has gathered along the way, insights that touch on broader Native issues such as modern life in the diaspora; the threat of alcohol, drug abuse, and violence; and the ongoing onslaught on self amid a complex, mixed heritage.
E-Book Content
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Rock, Ghost, Willow, Deer
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american indian lives Editorial Board General Editor A. LaVonne Brown Ruoff University of Illinois at Chicago (emerita) Kimberly Blaeser University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
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Brenda J. Child University of Minnesota
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R. David Edmunds University of Texas at Dallas Clara Sue Kidwell University of Oklahoma Daniel F. Littlefield University of Arkansas Tsianina Lomawaima University of Arizona Gerald Vizenor University of California, Berkeley
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Rock, Ghost,
Willow, Deer
A Story of
Survival
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Allison Adelle Hedge Coke
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© 2004 by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America � �
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hedge Coke, Allison. Rock, ghost, willow, deer : a story of survival / Allison Adelle Hedge Coke.
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p. cm. — (American Indian lives) isbn 0-8032-1527-4 (cloth : alk. paper)
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1. Hedge Coke, Allison. 2. Poets, American—20th century—Biography.
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3. Children of schizophrenics— United States—Biography. 4. Indian
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activists—United States—Biography. 5. College teachers—United States— Biography. 6. Indian women— United States—Biography. 7. Indian poets—United States—Biography. I. Title. II. Series. ps3553.o4366 z474 2004 811'.54—dc22
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For Travis and Vaughan
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