Phoenix lives a relatively idyllic life with her parent Eagle and grandparent Duck, deeply connected to the natural world and the rhythms of daily life. But that idyll is upended when a brain cancer diagnosis forever changes Phoenix’s relationships with the people she loves the most.
Written by Sharon Frances, ASH & FEATHER tells this story through a series of poems. These aren’t highly structured poems—there’s a sense of rhythm without rhythmic patterns, per se—but the result is a loose tone that feels like oral storytelling. Even without formal structure, the text is peppered with lively turns of phrase that feel good on the tongue, combining internal rhyme, consonance, and a singsong bounce (“A scented, sticky needle pricks me”). But the narrative also shows a surprisingly intense interest in writing and language, which adds greater richness to the reading experience. Language creates anxiety as the family lives with cancer and chemo, to the point where Phoenix is repeating “I will not talk about cancer today” over and over throughout a poem—a kind of modernist tension between thought and speech. The power of words occasionally punches the reader in the gut. When Phoenix looks at a list of symptoms of brain cancer, she notes “difficulty speaking” and dreads, “If difficulty speaking is a symptom, / do I have cancer too?”
ASH & FEATHER can’t be fully appreciated without noting the exquisite black-and-white relief prints that illustrate the story, a collaboration between several artists, book designer Trang Thi Kieu Dang, and the author (who cut the reliefs herself). At times, these illustrations are small and whimsical; at others, energetic, looping, even threatening; at others, cool, still, bounded. Where there are no facture marks on the plate, the print is deep black and in Phoenix’s story. That black can be frightening or calming, depending on the scene. There’s a satisfying thematic to this medium as well: with so much anxiety about the marks that cancer leaves on the body (including, for instance, a large surgery scar from the removal of a tumor), linocut printing extends the metaphor of cutting into a body to generate new meaning.
Tackling difficult subject matter with a careful tone appropriate for young readers and satisfying for adults, ASH & FEATHER is beautiful and moving.
Sharon Frances’s ASH & FEATHER soars on its powerful emotions, playful language, and evocative black-and-white art.
~Dan Accardi for IndieReader