[In the following positive review, Pavich provides a thematic overview of Winter of the Salamander.]

Ray Young Bear's volume of poetry, Winter of the Salamander, is the tenth in Harper and Row's Native American Publishing Program. The themes are those of much contemporary Native American literature: confusion, violence and death, despair and loss, anger. However, Young Bear exhibits a beautiful command of the language and an ability to elicit strong emotional responses. At times the impact of the imagery is itself like a blast from a shotgun. His landscape is filled with charred trees, half-dead animals, peeling faces, violated humans.

Much of the horror in these poems is a result of the inability of the white and Indian cultures to achieve any understanding at all. Young Bear's handling of the conflict of views ranges from the ironic to the bitter. In "the character of our addiction" he wryly notes that white culture has separated itself from the natural cycles and needs a machine to dictate the changing of the seasons:

       … the lawn mower speaks
       for everyone. to the majority
       of whites on this block
       it represents the spring.

In a number of other poems he depicts a white culture which has lost itself and its gods and seems bent on the destruction of life on this planet.

At the same time that he berates the whites, Young Bear shows his understanding of some of the contradictions of modern Indian culture. In "i can still picture the caribou" he reflects upon a tribal gathering:

       Seventy-five years ago, our places
       were probably filled with dance
       and constant prayer.
       breath made of the day's
       offering instead of alcohol.

The poetry reveals a painful awareness that for some individuals the festivals and dances have become empty forms which have lost their significance. In the Indian as well as the white world there are those who have forgotten their origins.

Despite the eschatological mood of many of the poems there is still a sense of reverence for the ancient traditions and for the land which sustains them. "Four songs of life" celebrates the continuance of life and the power of the ancient songs to create a sense of beauty, comfort and meaning. The first two songs are a contrast between a young man who is unsure of things and an old man who understands "the old hard tests of living." The last two songs are reflections on the strength of traditions to guide one through life.

While much of the poetry is concerned with the values of the Indian and white cultures there are also those which are considerations of the contemporary situation in general. There are poems on Vietnam, love, nature and dreams. Some are surrealistic visions loaded with startling metaphors and bizarre scenes. Others seem to be stretchings of the language in an attempt to see what new effects might be achieved. Young Bear prepares the reader for all this from the very beginning. On the opening page of the book he states, "There are no elucidations or foresights / merely / experiments with words."

Winter of the Salamander is certainly not an easy night's reading of lyrical reflections on the romantic ways of native America. It is both an unsettling commentary on the problems of modern America and a vivid demonstration of Ray Young Bear's poetic talent.