Follow Garry Gottfriedson in this new collection of combative poems as he compels us and Heaven to listen to the challenges facing First Nation communities today. Employing many of the Secwepemc (Shuswap) images and stories, Gottfriedson takes us inside the rez and into the rooming houses in the city cores, but always drawing new strength from the land and the people who have moved upon it. He speaks of "the smell of grandmothers and grandfathers / breathing the stories into our blood" so as to "wrap our newborn in freshly made Star Quilts."

Chaos Inside Thunderstorms draws the audience into the centre of the tumultuous political, socio/economical and historical reality of the First Nations experience in Canada today. It is poetic expression that examines leadership, resilience, honour, shame, and love. It examines the issues implicit in the Idle No More Movement and the Truth and Reconciliation conferences. Although the book speaks of age-old themes, it explores them through fresh modern eyes. Eloquent and witty, these poems are power-packed with imagery that uncovers the raw politics of race. There is nothing polite about them. Like his two previous collections of poems, Chaos Inside Thunderstorms is candid and challenging. More importantly, it is thought-provoking and engaging.

In Skin Like Mine Garry Gottfriedson offers a suite of poems on what it feels like to be inside the skin of many contemporary native individuals. He pulls no punches as he reflects on the challenges facing native people today. He speaks of minds full of anticipation yet with tongues pointing arrowheads. He tells of how so many native young people are afraid to live / afraid to die / afraid of ourselves. As he looks around what was once a pristine natural environment, he finds the forests being / eaten from the inside out. In the poem Political Dysfunction, Gottfriedson tackles the many problems with present-day band management. But as the collection passes the midpoint, a new voice begins to be heard as Gottfriedson reflects on the mysterious Horsechild, and he says: I will bind the drying racks once again / with hemp to make ready / The rows for drying salmon / so that beneath your skin / the mountains will be forever abundant. The age-old rituals of the people and of the land return to provide comfort and assurance that some things never change.