Manifestation Wolverine The Collected Poetry of Ray Young Bear

“Tenderness, wit, an otherworldly attention, sorrow and abundance, dogs, irony, badgers, troubled girls, peyote and a yellow blanket. Let these poems wash over you and be thankful that Ray Young Bear is with us, here on earth, bearing witness.” —Louise Erdrich

“Young Bear expresses feelings of isolation and loss shared by many Americans in the idiosyncratic vernacular of his tribal heritage . . . Highly recommended.” —Booklist

“I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that Ray Young Bear is the best poet in Indian Country and in the top 46 in the whole dang world. Sacred and profane, profound and irreverent, his poetry pushes you into a corner, roughs you up a bit, maybe takes your wallet, and then gives you a long kiss goodbye.” —Sherman Alexie
 
“These are remarkable poems. I read them over and over again, and I become more and more convinced that they proceed from a native intelligence that is at once ancient and contemporary, straightforward and ironic, provocative and insightful. The poet speaks from a kind of timeless experience; his voice is the voice of the coyote or singer of Beowulf or the inventor of words. The Invisible Musician is a work extraordinarily rich and rewarding.” —N. Scott Momaday
 
“It was clear from Ray Young Bear’s earliest poems that he was a poet of great ability. He has gotten better. The physical detail is ground, and there are mysterious interminglings of water and air that hold the worlds together. The Invisible Musician is rightly titled and a fine book.” —Robert Bly
 
“[Ray Young Bear is] a national treasure.” —Robert F. Gish
 
“Ray Young Bear is magic. He writes as if he lived 10,000 years ago in a tribe whose dialect happens to be modern English.” —Richard Hugo
 
“No one, absolutely no one, tells the tribal story like Young Bear.” —Elizabeth Cook-Lynn