Humming the Blues

“A fabulous work of art. Your book list is all the richer for it.”—Ingrid Wendt, author ofSinging the Mozart Requiemand winner of the Oregon Book Award Cass Dalglish translates the cuneiform of Enheduanna, a powerful Sumerian princess in 2350 BCE.Nin-me-sar-ra—the first signed poetry in history—begs the goddess Inanna (who entered the underworld and returned) for help overcoming a usurper. Adopting a jazz aesthetic, Dalglish improvises on her translations, re-examining the cuneiform through feminist lenses. Giving fresh interpretations to the originals, these poems form rhythmic riff s—like jazz musical improvisations—that carry the reader back to the lands of ancient Iraq during the time when gods were women. And when you squat with your weaving twisting and untwisting the threads of life, you harvest spirit, you reap breath, you cradle souls at your breast, you let the flaws unravel. Your hands speak in metaphor, they reach, they tell stories, they reach again, they want it all, and there you are, counting, counting to seven, counting all there is; hours, days, every moment squeezed in your fist, chained to your wrist bones, the universe tied by silky cords to your mask. Cass Dalglishis a poet and novelist who studied Sumerian hieroglyphs to find women’s earliest writing. She holds a PhD from Union Institute and is associate professor of English and chair of women’s studies at Augsburg College. She was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award for her novelSweetgrass(Lone Oak Press) and is the author ofNin(Spinsters Ink).