<DIV><p><I>Dragonfly Dance </I>is a collection of poems remarkable for their candor and sense of catharsis. Writing from the vantage point of an American Indian women, Denise Lajimodiere opens a door into the lives of Native girls and women. Her poems often reflect the deep tensions between Native culture and white culture.<br>      Reflected in Lajimodiere's poems, life is sometimes beautiful but rarely easy. "The Necklace," the narrator details how her mother repaired a favorite beaded necklace, "her arthritic fingers patiently / threading beads / on the long thin needle, weaving / night after night." When the necklace is finally repaired, she wears it to school where</p><p><I>At recess a White boy<BR> ran by, yanked<BR> it off my neck and threw it.<BR> I watched as it ascended<BR> high above the blacktop,<BR> the beads glittered, scattering their light,<BR> a rainbow against gray skies.</I></p><p>     Unadorned, direct, and often raw, these riveting poems sear their way into our imaginations, inviting us into a world we might never have known. We are richer for the knowledge.</p></DIV>