One of my favorite writers is the Native American poet Joy Harjo. She recently finished serving three terms as the United States Poet Laureate, a role assigned by the Librarian of Congress to help raise awareness about poetry. She was the first Native American to hold the role and the first person from Oklahoma. For her signature project, she created the Living Nations, Living Words interactive map, which connects readers to the work of 47 Native American poets.
But it is her poetry that moves me the most.
The poet Adrienne Rich (another amazing writer) said “I turn and return to Joy Harjo’s poetry for her breathtaking complex witness and for her world-remaking language.” Rooted in the Native American experience, Harjo’s work helps readers catch a vision of myth, religion, and abiding First Nation perspectives while still creating universally-appealing images. Her poems are descriptive, bringing varied American landscapes—southeast and southwest, Hawaii and Alaska—to life for the reader. They explore in honest language both the joys and struggles of contemporary womanhood. They are also accessible: these aren’t poems that leave a reader scratching her head thinking “huh?” Instead, they enlighten, reveal, and share experiences from the natural world and the human condition.
Poems to Explore
One of my favorite Joy Harjo poems is “When the World as We Knew It Ended,” which you can read in her book How We Became Human. She wrote it in the days following 9/11; it looks at the seeming-inevitability of an attack and the way we have always been in battle and yet manages a touch of hopefulness.
Not long after my mother died, I read Harjo’s poem “Without.” It gave my grief some perspective and reminded me I was not alone in loss.
Maybe her most well-known poem is “Perhaps the World Ends Here,” a powerful examination of the very human space of the kitchen.
But my favorites are not necessarily the poems you will love. To know that, you have to read her work. Here’s a list of books you could start with:
How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems, 1975-2001
By Joy Harjo
Adult Nonfiction
A selection of the best of Harjo’s earlier works, this book also includes an introduction essay that tells snippets of Harjo’s process toward becoming a poet and explanatory notes on many of the poems.
Living Nations, Living Words: An Anthology of First People’s Poetry
Edited by Joy Harjo
Adult Nonfiction
This anthology is the print version of Harjo’s “Living Nations” digital project. It collects work from all of the poets from the project and is a fantastic introduction to many contemporary Native American poets.
An American Sunrise: Poems
By Joy Harjo
Adult Nonfiction
Harjo’s most recent book of poetry, this work looks at how ancestral memories and stories connect us to the landscape we live in.
Poet Warrior: A Memoir
By Joy Harjo
Adult Nonfiction
Written while she was serving as the Poet Laureate, Poet Warrior is a memoir that focuses on the need for justice and love in our communities and families.
When the Light of the World Was Subdued Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry
Edited by Joy Harjo
Adult Nonfiction
Harjo edited this anthology, which is the first historically comprehensive collection of First Nation poets. It is organized within geographical sections, which helps readers understand the context of the works.
Written by Amy S, Assistant Librarian
