Favor of Crows: New and Collected Haiku

By Gerald Vizenor

A collection of original haiku from a preeminent Native American poet and novelist

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wesleyan
• Release date: Feb 18, 2014
• ISBN: 9780819574336

Gerald Vizenor

Gerald Vizenor is a citizen of the White Earth Nation of the Anishinaabeg in Minnesota. In his career, Vizenor has written over 40 books in a variety of genres, including 16 novels and innumerable essays. His novels, poetry, and short story collections from Wesleyan University Press include Waiting for Wovoka, Satie on the Seine, Native Tributes, Treaty Shirts, Favor of Crows, Blue Ravens, The Heirs of Columbus, Landfill Meditation, Shadow Distance and Hotline Healers. He is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships including the American Book Award and PEN Oakland's Josephine Miles Award. In 2021, he was the recipient of the Paul Bartlett Ré Peace prize 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award, for his work as a professor, writer and scholar on discussing peaceful resolutions to cultural differences. Vizenor was also awarded the 2022 Mark Twain Award from The Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature, which recognizes extraordinary work and contributions to Midwestern Literature. He was a delegate and principal writer for the White Earth Reservation Constitutional Convention, ratified in 2009.

Reviews for Favor of Crows

[splendorofdelight · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Most of these poems are not true haikus, despite the subtitle. Haiku are three line poems of five syllables, seven syllables, and a concluding five syllable line. Vizenor's poems are three lines each, but with 2-3 syllables in the first line, 5-6 syllables in the second line, and 2-3 syllables in the final line. The poems are generally about nature, which is the traditional theme for haiku poetry. The poems are lovely in themselves, however they are not haiku as advertised. I purchased this book because I wanted to read multiple examples of haiku, to inspire my own writing of this poetic form.