news | Monday April 13, 2015

Book Review: Peace in Duress in Muskrat Magazine

Muskrat Magazine published a review of Janet Rogers’s latest collection of poetry, Peace in Duress (Talon, 2014). Read extracts from her poems in the full review online, and enjoy the below quoted portion of the review:

Peace in Duress is a statement on the nature of the Two-Row Wampum treaty agreement between the Haudenosaunee or Six Nations peoples and the Canadian State, as Rogers sees it. Rogers’ poems attest that the agreement does not fare well, that there are many troubles brewing under the surface, it is these things that she brings to light through her powerful words. … Her words inspire pictures of the west at sundown, a fierce land where even more tenacious people thrive on the beauty of the land. How some take these relationships for granted, and how others have tried to claim that beauty in the name of nationalism. … through her poetry and performances, people will begin to understand that ‘Peace’ with Indigenous Peoples of these lands was indeed wrought under duress. Read and revel in the poetry of Janet Rogers and you will see that she offers an idea that now is the time to renegotiate the terms for ‘Peace.’