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Fiction. Poetry. HTML: A stunning new volume from the first Native American Poet Laureate of the United States, informed by her tribal history and connection to the land. In the early 1800s, the Mvskoke people were forcibly removed from their original lands east of the Mississippi to Indian Territory, which is now part of Oklahoma. Two hundred years later, Joy Harjo returns to her family's lands and opens a dialogue with history. In An American Sunrise, Harjo finds blessings in the abundance of her homeland and confronts the site where her people, and other indigenous families, essentially disappeared. From her memory of her mother's death, to her beginnings in the native rights movement, to the fresh road with her beloved, Harjo's personal life intertwines with tribal histories to create a space for renewed beginnings. Her poems sing of beauty and survival, illuminating a spirituality that connects her to her ancestors and thrums with the quiet anger of living in the ruins of injustice. A descendent of storytellers and "one of our finestâ??and most complicatedâ??poets" (Los Angeles Review of Books), Joy Harjo continues her legacy with this latest powerful collection… (more)
User reviews
I’m not usually one for poetry, I may read one or two poetry books a year as I usually have to read it outloud in order for me to fully grasp it. That being said, I fully enjoyed Harjo’s prose poetry. The ones titled Washing My Mother’s Body and Directions to You were two of my favorites.
I love books where I walk away having learned more about history than I did when I started the novel. American Sunrise is no different as I learned more about Native American history, their struggles, and their spirituality. For example: I had no idea that until the Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, it was illegal for Native citizens to practice their culture - including the making and sharing of songs and stories. I can’t imagine the amount of things lost, it breaks my heart.
Overall, a beautiful poetry collection about the Native American experience and personal struggles of Joy Harjo.
from page 6, "Do you know how to make a peaceful road through a human memory?"
"If I turn to salt, it will be of petrified tears
Liked The Fight, page 21.
And much more. I liked the
I started a grand quest through a large assortment of poetry & short story collections recommended from my APSI (AP Summer Institute) for AP Literature, and this is one of the many as you will see.
Another piece by Joy Harjo, previous Poet Laureate, this was another gorgeous and
This collection is loosely shaped around the Trail of Tears, moving backward and forward in time to explore the dislocations and absences, the culture, homes, and relationships lost, but also finding joy in what remains, in reclaiming memory, in forging new identities and new traditions in the ashes of what was left.
A powerful collection.