Natasha Trethewey's muscular, luminous poems explore the
complex memory of the American South history that belongs to
all Americans. The sequence forming the spine of the
collection follows the Native Guard, one of the first black
regiments mustered into service in the Civil War. In
Trethewey's hometown of Gulfport, Mississippi, a plaque
honors Confederate POWs, but there is no memorial to these
vanguard Union soldiers. Native Guard is both a pilgrimage
and an elegy, as Trethewey skillfully employs a variety of
poetic forms to create a lyrical monument to these forgotten
voices. Interwoven are poems honoring Trethewey's mother and
recalling her fraught childhoodher parents" interracial
marriage was still illegal in 1966 Mississippi. Native Guard
is a haunting, beguiling narrative, caught in the
intersections of public and personal testament. As Rita Dove
proclaimed, "Here is a young poet in full possession of her
craft."
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