In this beautifully written book, Kent Nerburn has assembled a group of poignant and poetic essays that capture and convey the harsh grandeur of northwestern Minnesota. The author of Letters to My Son is an ardent believer in the spiritual practice of listening. From the Ojibwe tribe with whom he has worked, he learned how to "find a message in a thunderstorm or a promise in the passage of an eagle overhead." The voice of God speaks through the land.
Nerburn also practices the spiritual crafts of attention, being present, and wonder. He writes about an old pine tree that is a friend. He sees snow as "a prayer shawl, donned upon the land," and he senses a wildness he can't control in an encounter with a buffalo. As the title of the book suggests, Nerburn has opened up his heart and all of his senses to appreciate the poetics of place, the changing of the seasons, and the Native American path of walking in beauty.
Nerburn has a special place in his heart for this paperback which was originally called A Haunting Reverence. In his preface to this volume he notes:
"I believe it is time for Native Echoes to be heard again. In a world that seeks spirituality without dogma. where there is hunger to learn the teachings of the land, it offers guidance and quiet reflection.
"I hope you will give yourself over to this work. If you still your mind and quiet your heart, it will reward you. It speaks to many spiritual questions in the only way that such questions can be addressed- as poetry, as metaphor, as a grasping at a shaft of light."
