SPIRIT WALKER
by Nancy Wood & illustrated by Frank Howell
A companion to Many Winters (1974), this collection of 40-odd poems (several previously published) and a few prose pieces is also based on the legends, values, and beliefs of the Taos Pueblo Indians and restates many of the same themes: the interconnectedness of the earth and all beings, cycles of death and regeneration, the conflict of material and spiritual values, the strength of women. The poetry has become more ``literary''; the illustrations—without the particularity of the earlier portraits- -show archetypical Native Americans with extravagantly flowing hair afloat on fields of intense color. Both poems and paintings are beautiful in their way, but their mannerism is no match for the concreteness and immediacy of the earlier work. Introductory material about the author and the Taos; title index. (Poetry. 12+)