The Drum That Beats Within Us

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this in exchange for my honest review.

This poetry book reads like a love letter to the wild and scary parts of humans that are still connected with the land. The beating, thumping, heart pounding part of us that wants to scurry through the underbrush or fly through the trees. Human beings have become disconnected from that animal parts of ourselves. Mike Bond, among many things, is a tireless environmentalist and for one beautiful hour, as your pour yourself over the pages, you can let the wild drums out and feel a connection.

It isn't a perfect book, the poetry was flat at points and the preface was a little jarring. I understand that Bond has earned his political and environmental stripes but I don't need that in the forefront of my mind while trying to absorb poetry. Also, I know some readers are going to point out that there are Native American Iconography in a few of these poems. Bond, to my understanding, is not native and some people would point out that this is cultural appropriation. I am not sure. The poems come off to me as an homage to a Native culture, a culture that treats the environment with reference, rather than a way to score some poem points. That is a subjective point for the reader an maybe something to be sensitive to.

I think that this is a worthy attempt at writing down a human feeling that almost seems unwritable. That throbbing connection to the land that humans seem to be getting further away from. Read it, see how you feel. I know it sparked a slow and steady boom — boom inside me, if only for a moment.