Toledo Rez & Other Myths

“The government keeps trying to erase the Choctaw-Apache Tribe of Ebarb, Louisiana: first by drowning their ancestral grounds in a man-made reservoir, then by denying their petitions for federal recognition. But they did not count on the dazzling lyric gifts of Native poet Thomas Parrie, who rescues tribal myths and memories from oblivion in this stunning debut collection. Spread the word about Toledo Rez and its author, the unforgettable voice of an ‘underwater reservation’." — Julie Kane, author of author of Rhythm & Booze and Paper Bullets; Professor Emeritus, English, Northwestern State University; 2011-2013 Louisiana Poet Laureate
"Thomas Parrie’s Toledo Rez & Other Myths comes at a time when not only his tribal people, the Choctaw-Apache of Ebarb, deserve such brilliant and vibrant expression, but all of Indian Louisiana as well. These poems are vital and dynamic, and they will help Louisiana live forever.” — Geary Hobson, author of The Last of the Ofos and Plain of Jars; Professor Emeritus, English, University of Oklahoma; Director Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas
“Thomas Parrie’s Toledo Rez & Other Myths evokes memory, humor, recovery, music, and resilience of Indigenous Louisiana. Parrie calls up reveries where: ‘When the Sabine River was dammed to become Toledo Bend/ our half-blind grandmothers prayed to sunbeams.’ Reminding readers the genealogy of baseball, Choctaws’ ishtaboli, is the progenitor of the game where: ‘We avenge our fathers and uncles… And when we win, brothers…we become the sun and the moon.’ This collection marks Parrie as an integral voice in the Native South and Indigenous writing of the Americas.” —Rain Prud’homme-Cranford, author of Smoked Mullet Cornbread Crawdad Memory; Assistant Professor of English and International Indigenous Studies, University of Calgary