Poet warrior : a memoir

First Title Value for Searching:

Personal Author:

Harjo, Joy

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

x, 226 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Summary:

"Poet Laureate Joy Harjo offers a vivid, lyrical, and inspiring call for love and justice in this contemplation of her trailblazing life. In the second memoir from the first Native American to serve as US poet laureate, Joy Harjo invites us to travel along the heartaches, losses, and humble realizations of her 'poet-warrior' road. A musical, kaleidoscopic meditation, Poet Warrior reveals how Harjo came to write poetry of compassion and healing, poetry with the power to unearth the truth and demand justice. Weaving together the voices that shaped her, Harjo listens to stories of ancestors and family, the poetry and music that she first encountered as a child, the teachings of a changing earth, and the poets who paved her way. She explores her grief at the loss of her mother and sheds light on the rituals that nourish her as an artist, mother, wife, and community member. Moving fluidly among prose, song, and poetry, Poet Warrior is a luminous journey of becoming that sings with all the jazz, blues, tenderness, and bravery that we know as distinctly Joy Harjo"--

Contents:

To imagine the spirit of poetry -- Prepare -- You might know me first -- Part one. Ancestral roots -- Part two. Becoming -- Part three. A postcolonial tale -- Part four. Diamond light -- Part five. Teachers -- Part six. Sunset.

Subject Term:

Poets, American -- 20th century -- Biography

Poets, American -- 21st century -- Biography.

Indian women authors -- United States -- Biography.

Publication Info:

New York, N.Y. : W.W. Norton & Company, [2021]

Subject:

Poets, American -- 20th century -- Biography

Poets, American -- 21st century -- Biography.

Indian women authors -- United States -- Biography.

Harjo, Joy

Harjo-Sapulpa, Joy

American poets

Women authors, Indian

SAILS ISBN:

9780393248524

Available:

Library	Shelf Number	Shelf Location	Status
Searching... Bridgewater Public Library	B HARJO, JOY	BIOGRAPHY	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Attleboro Public Library	920 HARJO	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Attleboro Public Library	920 HARJO	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Attleboro Public Library	920 HARJO	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Attleboro Public Library	920 HARJO	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Attleboro Public Library	920 HARJO	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Attleboro Public Library	920 HARJO	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Attleboro Public Library	920 HARJO	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Attleboro Public Library	920 HARJO	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Attleboro Public Library	920 HARJO	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Attleboro Public Library	920 HARJO	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Carver Public Library	92 HARJO, JOY	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Easton - Ames Free Library	BIO HARJO 2021	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Elizabeth Taber Library	B HAR	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Fall River Main	B H282	Stacks	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Foxboro - Boyden Library	B HARJO	BIOGRAPHY	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Mattapoisett Free Public Library	B HARJO 2021	BIOGRAPHY	Searching... Unknown
Searching... New Bedford Free Public Library	YA 818.5403 HAR 2021	CHILDREN NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... New Bedford Howland-Green Branch	B HARJO 2021	BIOGRAPHY	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Norfolk Public Library	92 HARJO, J.	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Norton Public Library	B HARJO, J.	BIOGRAPHY	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Pembroke Public Library	BIO HARJO, J.	BIOGRAPHY	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Rehoboth - Blanding Free PL	818.5403 HAR	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Somerset Public Library	B HARJO JOY	1:DISPLAYNF	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Joy Harjo, the first Native American to serve as U.S. poet laureate, invites us to travel along the heartaches, losses, and humble realizations of her "poet-warrior" road. A musical, kaleidoscopic, and wise follow-up to Crazy Brave, Poet Warrior reveals how Harjo came to write poetry of compassion and healing, poetry with the power to unearth the truth and demand justice.

Harjo listens to stories of ancestors and family, the poetry and music that she first encountered as a child, and the messengers of a changing earth--owls heralding grief, resilient desert plants, and a smooth green snake curled up in surprise. She celebrates the influences that shaped her poetry, among them Audre Lorde, N. Scott Momaday, Walt Whitman, Muscogee stomp dance call-and-response, Navajo horse songs, rain, and sunrise. In absorbing, incantatory prose, Harjo grieves at the loss of her mother, reckons with the theft of her ancestral homeland, and sheds light on the rituals that nourish her as an artist, mother, wife, and community member.

Moving fluidly between prose, song, and poetry, Harjo recounts a luminous journey of becoming, a spiritual map that will help us all find home. Poet Warrior sings with the jazz, blues, tenderness, and bravery that we know as distinctly Joy Harjo.

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In a gorgeous and meditative work that blends poetry, philosophy, and nonlinear narrative, U.S. poet laureate Harjo (Crazy Brave) delivers a lyrical homage to her Creek Nation family. Her reflections travel through multiple territories: ancestral stories of Muscogee forced migration to Oklahoma; memories of her charming, womanizing father who abandoned the family; her life as a poet and teacher; and the words of other poets who influenced her. The thread that tethers each story is Harjo's late mother. Throughout, Harjo drifts in and out of dreams that bring her mother back to her, while reminiscing on her mother's talent as an orator, and shifts to painful moments in which her mother allowed the sexual, mental, and physical abuse of Harjo by her stepfather. Though Harjo's life was enriched with other maternal figures--including her "earliest mentor," the poet and activist Meridel Le Sueur, and Audre Lorde, whose "wisdom songs folded into the consciousness of my poetry"--no woman could replace the one who gave birth to her. In her mother's final hours, Harjo writes, "I breathed with her.... Later, I would realize I was midwifing my mother through to her next life." This mesmerizing story is a pleasure to get lost in. Agent: Kathleen Anderson, the Shipman Agency. (Sept.)

Kirkus Review

In this hybrid memoir, the acclaimed Muscogee Nation writer combines poetry and prose to trace her journey from avid word collector to seasoned wordsmith. As a child, Harjo hid under the kitchen table, eavesdropping on her elders. She later found out that her mother knew about and tolerated this habit because she, too, was a lover of words. The author's mother would routinely recite poems by writers like William Blake, a practice that Harjo credits with sparking her interest in poetry and songs. In contrast, her father's violence filled her with the instinct to hide herself and her literary journey. This pattern continued when Harjo's mother married another abusive man, forcing Harjo to leave home when she was just a teenager. Built on this solid foundation, the remainder of the story details the author's evolution from a shy, scared child to a driven writer and educator dedicated to nurturing her students in a way that she had never been. Critical to this journey was the time she spent studying at the University of New Mexico, where she formed community with other Native students and discovered much-needed healing. In 2019, she was named the U.S. poet laureate, the first Native American to hold that honor in U.S. history. The book is the perfect companion to Harjo's previous memoir, Crazy Brave, adding depth and new meaning to familiar characters and personal milestones. Despite having a difficult life, the author's capacity for compassion is astonishing. In one passage, she calls her abusive stepfather one of her "greatest teachers" because his abuse forced her into a life of the mind and "to find myself in the spiritual world." She masterfully holds both her past self and her abusers accountable while layering their characters with details that render them sympathetic in spite of their often horrifying behavior. On the line level, Harjo's words blaze with honesty and lyricism, and nearly every sentence is a delight. A gorgeous, compassionate memoir from one of America's greatest living writers. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Musician, visual artist, and U.S. Poet Laureate Harjo continues her personal story in her second memoir, following the award-winning Crazy Brave (2013), in a genre-bending approach that interweaves poetry and anecdotes, memories, and familial and ancestral history. A member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Harjo grew up where the Trail of Tears halted in Oklahoma, where the U.S. government forcibly relocated her ancestors after brutally stripping them of their homes and land in Georgia and Alabama. Such trauma is carried forward, pain that Harjo views from an expansive, time-transcending perspective that allows her to place it within a larger story. "Does each generation carry forth the wounding that needs to be healed, from mother to mother, cooking pot to cooking pot, song to poetry, and poetry to beadwork, until one day in eternity we will understand what we have created together?" Creativity and imagination helped Harjo escape abusive situations. She was also gifted with the ability to listen deeply and find a place to exist harmoniously between sensuality and physical power and sensitivity and connectedness to other inner and spiritual energies. Throughout this lyrical, beautiful memoir Harjo generously shares her inspirations: family, nature, ritual, music, literature, her life lessons and insights gleaned from her dreams, psychic intuitions, and communications with ancestors.

Library Journal Review

Three-term U.S. poet laureate Harjo (An American Sunrise) gives readers an in-depth look at her life and her poetry, and what poetry brought to her and to others. In this memoir combining narrative prose and poetry, Harjo recounts her upbringing in a Muscogee (Creek) Nation family and the trials she faced navigating the world. She also tries to understand how the earth has changed throughout the centuries and what its inhabitants must do to heal it. Harjo wisely advises readers to put down technological devices and connect with the earth on a deeper level. She maintains that individuals can become content by listening to animals, which provide friendship and sustenance, and to plants, which provide healing power. The memoir jumps around through time and place; this could be Harjo's way of pointing out that our lives and realizations about the earth do not have to be linear. Rather, she effectively shows how fluid a life can be. VERDICT This poignant read offers a lot of food for thought. Highly recommended for any library, especially for memoir collections.--Elizabeth Ragain, Rogers Heritage H.S., Fayetteville, AR

To imagine the spirit of poetry	p. 1
Prepare	p. 3
You might know me first	p. 4
Part 1 Ancestral Roots	p. 7
Part 2 Becoming	p. 63
Part 3 A Postcolonial Tale	p. 97
Part 4 Diamond Light	p. 131
Part 5 Teachers	p. 161
Part 6 Sunset	p. 203
Notes	p. 219
Acknowledgments	p. 221
Credits	p. 223

Available:

Bound With These Titles

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Summary

Summary

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Kirkus Review

Booklist Review

Library Journal Review

Table of Contents