Where Clouds Are Formed (review)

Ofelia Zepeda's latest book of poetry explores what it means to be O'odham in a rapidly changing world while at the same time invoking a deeply felt sense of O'odham identity that is tied to land and language. Within Zepeda's poetic world, land and language, along with water, are inextricably entwined and serve as recurrent tropes that structure the collection.

The book is thematically divided into three sections—"Lost Prayers," "Other Worlds," and "How to End a Season"—that link it to O'odham land and traditions. The collection's title is reflected in the first poem, "The Place Where Clouds Are Formed," which begins with the condensation of breath in the hot desert summers, moves on to winter and a depiction of snow and mist rising, and ends with rain and fog and the condensation of breath once again. This cyclical trouping of water in its various forms is threaded throughout the text, linking it to O'odham ceremonies and rituals such as the pulling down the clouds ceremony, which is evoked in later poems, "In the Midst of Songs" and "Landscape." The repetition and rhythm of "Songs" calls to mind the rhythm of a Tohono O'odham ceremonial song with images of ocean, storm, rain, and the land. In "Landscape" the shuffling walk of an old woman "in constant contact with the earth" gives way to a bilingual stanza in Tohono O'odham and English:

Oig'am si, 'oig 'am si	Come now, come now
Si g o 'e-keihi	Step lively
Si g o 'e-keihi	Step lively
Att o 'i-hudiñ g cewagǐ	We will pull down the clouds (24)

The image of the shuffling woman connects to the shuffling dance steps of the ceremony that brings the rain. This in turn segues to urban landscapes of "stairs, steps, tall curbs, grading" that require one to "lift [one's] foot with every step" (25). "The earth," the speaker tells us, "has no smooth surfaces" (25).

The poems reflect current political landscapes as well. Zepeda addresses the crossing of Tohono O'odham land by migrants bent on reaching Tucson or Phoenix, something that is often neglected in contemporary writing about immigration and the U.S.-Mexican border. In "Lost Prayers" "calling on the Virgin Mary is useless. / Instead, one must know the language of the land" (15). The plight of migrants unaccustomed to this language and the desert heat is juxtaposed with the O'odham, who

know how to prayso that all elements of nature will fall into rhythm… with gifts of wetness. (15)

"Ocotillo Memorial" addresses the many shrines erected in memory of those who were unsuccessful in their journey.

"The Other World" explores the daily negotiations Native people must make in navigating place. The child speaker of the poem asks:

When we get back toour world, can we rent a videowe can all watch?

The second speaker replies:

What do you mean, our world?This place is your world.This place of sand, rocks, mesquite,Rattlesnakes, lizards, and little rain.This is yours. (27)

Another poem in this section, "An O'odham in Yosemite," begins with the "O'odham world turned upside down" as the speaker moves from the desert landscape to one of cool greenery (38). "Music Mountains" begins by giving the O'odham names to the mountains that encircle Tohono O'odham territory:

Cemamagi, TumamocBabad Do'ag, Santa Catalina MountainsCuk Do'ag, Black Mountains, Tucson Mountains. (30)

Zepeda draws connections between landscape and the ritual song, orations, and prayers that bring rain and snow.

Many poems speak of language, which is not surprising, as Zepeda is a world-renowned linguist and scholar. The speaker in "Birth Witness" is born in the cotton fields "in an old wooden row house" (12) with no witnesses, save for the stars, wind, sun, and pollen, all "silent witnesses" that do not bear weight in Western legal culture for verification of birth. In the span of the speaker...