A review by moonbites
Earth Keeper: Reflections on the American Land by N. Scott Momaday

3.0

I mistakenly thought this was poetry, but it didn't feel like poetry to me. I think it is just as it describes on the cover, reflections, or musings. It's mainly about respecting the earth and Momaday reflecting on memories and giving us a peek into the Kiowa. I found a few parts of this particularly poignant when Momaday talks about the first humans and his descriptions of nature.

"I traveled on a great river through a canyon. The walls of the canyon were so old as to be timeless. There came a sunlit rain, and a double rainbow arched the river. There was mystery and meaning in my passage. I beheld things that others had beheld thousands of years ago. The earth is a place of wonder and beauty." pg 16

"Dragonfly is a throwback. His view of the world is ancient. It was fashioned in darkness by those who had no language, who were struggling in the agony of birth, the miracle of becoming human. Those ancients were bereft, but there was a spirit within them and they expressed their spirit by shaping images on the walls of a cave. They were in sacred relation with the animals they painted. In their profound art was the construction of a primitive belief, a faith in the essence of earth." pg 24

Overall it was a fine and quick read. I think I had expectations of it being something else. I wasn't let down by this book, but it didn't have a huge impact on me either. I think it's an important perspective on the treatment of the earth, but I think I am already weighed down with many messages to conserve mother nature that this wasn't read at the appropriate time in my life.