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Poet Warrior
Three-term poet laureate Joy Harjo offers a vivid, lyrical, and inspiring call for love and justice in this contemplation of her trailblazing life. Joy Harjo, the first Native American to serve as US 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.
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.
256 pages, Paperback
First published September 7, 2021
399 people are currently reading
15336 people want to read
About the author
Joy Harjo
99 books2,027 followersBio Joy Harjo
Joy Harjo was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and is a member of the Mvskoke Nation. She has released four award-winning CD's of original music and won a Native American Music Award (NAMMY) for Best Female Artist of the Year. She performs nationally and internationally solo and with her band, The Arrow Dynamics. She has appeared on HBO's Def Poetry Jam, in venues in every major U.S. city and internationally. Most recently she performed We Were There When Jazz Was Invented at the Chan Centre at UBC in Vancouver, BC, and appeared at the San Miguel Writer’s Conference in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Her one-woman show, Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light, which features guitarist Larry Mitchell premiered in Los Angeles in 2009, with recent performances at Joe’s Pub in New York City, LaJolla Playhouse as part of the Native Voices at the Autry, and the University of British Columbia. Her seven books of poetry include such well-known titles as How We Became Human- New and Selected Poems and She Had Some Horses. Her awards include the New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas, and the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America. She was recently awarded 2011 Artist of the Year from the Mvskoke Women’s Leadership Initiative, and a Rasmuson US Artists Fellowship. She is a founding board member and treasurer of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. Harjo writes a column Comings and Goings for her tribal newspaper, the Muscogee Nation News. Soul Talk, Song Language, Conversations with Joy Harjo was recently released from Wesleyan University Press. Crazy Brave, a memoir is her newest publication from W.W. Norton, and a new album of music is being produced by the drummer/producer Barrett Martin. She is at work on a new shows: We Were There When Jazz Was Invented, a musical story that proves southeastern indigenous tribes were part of the origins of American music. She lives in the Mvskoke Nation of Oklahoma.
Joy Harjo was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and is a member of the Mvskoke Nation. She has released four award-winning CD's of original music and won a Native American Music Award (NAMMY) for Best Female Artist of the Year. She performs nationally and internationally solo and with her band, The Arrow Dynamics. She has appeared on HBO's Def Poetry Jam, in venues in every major U.S. city and internationally. Most recently she performed We Were There When Jazz Was Invented at the Chan Centre at UBC in Vancouver, BC, and appeared at the San Miguel Writer’s Conference in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Her one-woman show, Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light, which features guitarist Larry Mitchell premiered in Los Angeles in 2009, with recent performances at Joe’s Pub in New York City, LaJolla Playhouse as part of the Native Voices at the Autry, and the University of British Columbia. Her seven books of poetry include such well-known titles as How We Became Human- New and Selected Poems and She Had Some Horses. Her awards include the New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas, and the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America. She was recently awarded 2011 Artist of the Year from the Mvskoke Women’s Leadership Initiative, and a Rasmuson US Artists Fellowship. She is a founding board member and treasurer of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. Harjo writes a column Comings and Goings for her tribal newspaper, the Muscogee Nation News. Soul Talk, Song Language, Conversations with Joy Harjo was recently released from Wesleyan University Press. Crazy Brave, a memoir is her newest publication from W.W. Norton, and a new album of music is being produced by the drummer/producer Barrett Martin. She is at work on a new shows: We Were There When Jazz Was Invented, a musical story that proves southeastern indigenous tribes were part of the origins of American music. She lives in the Mvskoke Nation of Oklahoma.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 438 reviews
May 2, 2022
Rather than a continuation of Crazy Brave, Joy Harjo's first memoir published ten years ago, Poet Warrior is an expansion of memory and art. Loosely formatted as a traditional chronological narrative, Poet Warrior tells the story of a Native woman and artist through a hybrid of poetry, dreams, impressions and characters. Harjo touches upon the tragedies and traumas of her childhood and her rapid, difficult rush into adulthood—becoming a mother and an alcoholic while still a teenager—but the main focus here is how she found her voice as a poet. Painting and theatre were her first artistic forays; it took mentors and failures to discover the medium of words.
I found her descriptions of and interactions with Native communities in Oklahoma and New Mexico deeply fascinating and gratifying. The connection between tribes of vastly different origins and traditions is a spoken through language that doesn't require words; it is an understanding at the soul level. Harjo weaves mysticism throughout, not as a playful theme, but as a point of fact in her experience. This is an artist who has experienced history on different timelines, and her ability to shift between worlds is evident in her deep compassion and expansive work.
I found myself jotting down story ideas while reading Poet Warrior and that seems so fitting: to her incredible generosity of spirit—Joy Harjo gifts stories to other writers. She is a magical human and a national treasure.
I found her descriptions of and interactions with Native communities in Oklahoma and New Mexico deeply fascinating and gratifying. The connection between tribes of vastly different origins and traditions is a spoken through language that doesn't require words; it is an understanding at the soul level. Harjo weaves mysticism throughout, not as a playful theme, but as a point of fact in her experience. This is an artist who has experienced history on different timelines, and her ability to shift between worlds is evident in her deep compassion and expansive work.
I found myself jotting down story ideas while reading Poet Warrior and that seems so fitting: to her incredible generosity of spirit—Joy Harjo gifts stories to other writers. She is a magical human and a national treasure.
March 15, 2024
I’ve reached the middle of March and have thoroughly enjoyed my women’s history month reading thus far. Poetry is not a preferred genre, it is personal and, as National Poet Laureate Joy Harjo notes, the words are meant to be spoken, not read to oneself. Perhaps this is why I am drawn to books that intersperse poetry with other written prose like the novels of Jacqueline Woodson and Kwame Alexander for young adult readers. Harjo is a multitalented artist but it was not always apparent that this was going to be her life path. Poet Warrior is her second memoir in which she leads readers on a journey of her life path, subjecting us to the laws of nature along the way.
Joy Harjo is the product of a devoted mother and abusive father and stepfather. She and her mother would protect each or, but it was never enough. The stepfather abused both Harjo and her sister and forbade the author to sing or recite poetry in his home. Poetry was her release from the realities chaining her to the world. It allowed her to go across realms and travel to her Muskogee Creek ancestors, gaining spiritual guidance. Harjo’s mother knew that school would be the one way out of this abusive home. When Harjo reached middle school, she won a scholarship to attend the American Indian Artistic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She would not return to live on tribal lands in Oklahoma for another forty years when her stepfather had been gone from this earth for many years. As an elder stateswoman of the tribe, she could finally take her rightful place as a teacher to give back and mentor future generations of indigenous people. Harjo does not touch much on her role as a leader; this memoir, like Crazy Brave which preceded it, uses poetry as a therapy to diffuse the baggage Harjo had from growing up an abusive home and eventually overcoming it and making her way in the world. Although redundant having read Crazy Brave, Poet Warrior, one of Harjo’s tribal names, is an excellent teaching tool.
Harjo discusses many influences on her writing life including Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. The main influences she had have been indigenous or other minorities, most notably Audre Lorde and Leslie Marmon Silko. She believes that poetry is a true magic and that she uses her platform to fulfill her desire for indigenous people to be seen with dignity. Later in the book, after she had been teaching at both the indigenous institute and American universities for many years, Harjo noted that her people should have a council of elders who would guide future generations in life. I have seen this mentioned in the work of Julia Alvarez and Gloria Andluzua among others who point out that this council is one of wise women who have seen the world and can offer sage advice to those coming of age. Harjo is fortunate to have had many mentors including some of her paternal relatives who mentored her during her upbringing. She has also seen youth succumb to life when they did not have a strong backbone of family to guide them. As poet laureate, her role is to create and edit poetry but it is also a platform to speak to indigenous youth and encourage them through life.
Harjo also touches on her time as a musician. She learned saxophone and horn later in her life and has performed at tribal performances. Because she has discussed the same themes and stories in many of her poetry collections, I found the musical anecdotes more enlightening than the poetry and words of encouragement contained in these pages. She also speaks of her travels and multi tribal councils as indigenous people meet to discuss their relationship with their subjugates. She mentions relations with the animal and plant kingdoms and how the earth is changing and will remain if people learn to respect the other creatures living on the planet. I am not one who appreciates when authors insert their politics in their writing, so the brief mention of the pandemic and global warming was to me Harjo preaching her views to many. These few paragraphs soured the memoir for me. The sighting of pink dolphins on the Amazon made up for it and I still find it hard to believe that this sighting occurred. Like pink dolphins, Harjo is a treasure.
Halfway through March, I have read many genres of women’s writing. I have read memoirs and learned from master writers as well as immersing myself in quality novels. I am never going to be a poetry connoisseur; however, writers like Joy Harjo, a poet, musician, teacher, and tribal sage, create words that take me away on the wind. She offers me pause to stop and appreciate what is important in the world and to give back to future generations. This speaks to me as a teacher and encourages me that even though it is at times exhausting profession, teaching is a noble calling. Having read this memoir on a day when students are antsy for the weekend and upcoming vacation, I can take Harjo’s words to heart. I hope to take her sage advice and use it in instances in my own life and even learn to appreciate her poetry.
4 stars
Joy Harjo is the product of a devoted mother and abusive father and stepfather. She and her mother would protect each or, but it was never enough. The stepfather abused both Harjo and her sister and forbade the author to sing or recite poetry in his home. Poetry was her release from the realities chaining her to the world. It allowed her to go across realms and travel to her Muskogee Creek ancestors, gaining spiritual guidance. Harjo’s mother knew that school would be the one way out of this abusive home. When Harjo reached middle school, she won a scholarship to attend the American Indian Artistic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She would not return to live on tribal lands in Oklahoma for another forty years when her stepfather had been gone from this earth for many years. As an elder stateswoman of the tribe, she could finally take her rightful place as a teacher to give back and mentor future generations of indigenous people. Harjo does not touch much on her role as a leader; this memoir, like Crazy Brave which preceded it, uses poetry as a therapy to diffuse the baggage Harjo had from growing up an abusive home and eventually overcoming it and making her way in the world. Although redundant having read Crazy Brave, Poet Warrior, one of Harjo’s tribal names, is an excellent teaching tool.
Harjo discusses many influences on her writing life including Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. The main influences she had have been indigenous or other minorities, most notably Audre Lorde and Leslie Marmon Silko. She believes that poetry is a true magic and that she uses her platform to fulfill her desire for indigenous people to be seen with dignity. Later in the book, after she had been teaching at both the indigenous institute and American universities for many years, Harjo noted that her people should have a council of elders who would guide future generations in life. I have seen this mentioned in the work of Julia Alvarez and Gloria Andluzua among others who point out that this council is one of wise women who have seen the world and can offer sage advice to those coming of age. Harjo is fortunate to have had many mentors including some of her paternal relatives who mentored her during her upbringing. She has also seen youth succumb to life when they did not have a strong backbone of family to guide them. As poet laureate, her role is to create and edit poetry but it is also a platform to speak to indigenous youth and encourage them through life.
Harjo also touches on her time as a musician. She learned saxophone and horn later in her life and has performed at tribal performances. Because she has discussed the same themes and stories in many of her poetry collections, I found the musical anecdotes more enlightening than the poetry and words of encouragement contained in these pages. She also speaks of her travels and multi tribal councils as indigenous people meet to discuss their relationship with their subjugates. She mentions relations with the animal and plant kingdoms and how the earth is changing and will remain if people learn to respect the other creatures living on the planet. I am not one who appreciates when authors insert their politics in their writing, so the brief mention of the pandemic and global warming was to me Harjo preaching her views to many. These few paragraphs soured the memoir for me. The sighting of pink dolphins on the Amazon made up for it and I still find it hard to believe that this sighting occurred. Like pink dolphins, Harjo is a treasure.
Halfway through March, I have read many genres of women’s writing. I have read memoirs and learned from master writers as well as immersing myself in quality novels. I am never going to be a poetry connoisseur; however, writers like Joy Harjo, a poet, musician, teacher, and tribal sage, create words that take me away on the wind. She offers me pause to stop and appreciate what is important in the world and to give back to future generations. This speaks to me as a teacher and encourages me that even though it is at times exhausting profession, teaching is a noble calling. Having read this memoir on a day when students are antsy for the weekend and upcoming vacation, I can take Harjo’s words to heart. I hope to take her sage advice and use it in instances in my own life and even learn to appreciate her poetry.
4 stars
September 7, 2021
Joy Harjo's Poet Warrior: A Memoir is a truly remarkable book—partly because Harjo has led a remarkable life, but also because of the beautiful, almost incantatory prose Harjo uses. Harjo doesn't just relate events in her life, she pulls us into a world view that makes us rethink our relationship to what we see around us—that makes us rethink the very world we see around us.
Take your time with this title. Move slowly, pick it up, put it down. Nothing here should be rushed. I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.
Take your time with this title. Move slowly, pick it up, put it down. Nothing here should be rushed. I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.
October 25, 2021
Unpopular opinion/review and likely due to operator/reader error, so if you are planning to read this book, I would certainly encourage you to still do so -- just felt either a right book/wrong time or maybe right book/not ideal reader scenario. (That said, this contrary reviews often seem to be my most popular ones here on Goodreads.)
While I have read and loved many non-poetry books, both fiction and non-fiction, written by poets I admit poetry is not in my comfort zone/wheelhouse. Likewise, I will be the the first to admit how utterly ridiculous it is to say that I did not generally connect with or the enjoy the poetry aspects of a book called "Poet Warrior" and written by the Poet Laureate of the United States. But I do like stretching/testing myself every now and then and see how it goes.
Beyond the poetry interludes (both from the author herself and other poets who have influenced her), Harjo takes a random and non-linear approach to telling her story. I do not mind this approach, but again it made it hard for me to grasp hold of her story. I understand this is her second memoir (with some aspects being repetitive), so perhaps this more experimental (?) format in telling her story was not the place to start. Tho I suspect, this is just who she is. And maybe I was just expecting a bit of a different book and look at Native life and history -- but again, I lay any expectation or disappointment gap at my own feet as Harjo's vision for this work is pretty clear.
Going with an unofficial 3.5 stars, but a Goodreads round-down to 3 stars -- still very much liked it and glad I read it, but based on my overall reading experience as I worked my way through.
October 30, 2021
I read many memoirs. Poet Warrior was beyond special because it was written by a poet, in fact the current Poet Laureate of the United States who is also a wise and brave Native American woman.
Joy Harjo is descended from Muscogee (Creek) ancestors, the very ones who walked the infamous Trail of Tears after being banished from their lands in the South. Those people ended that journey in what is now Oklahoma but was then called Indian Territory. Joy learned her people's history from her Aunt Lois.
"Before removal, our people were walking the tightrope of history. Immigrants were flooding illegally into our homelands, staking claims to our lands and houses even as we occupied them."
She also learned this history through experiences when she was visited by her ancestors in dreaming times and given teachings that enabled her to navigate her tumultuous childhood and young adult years. She tells us these stories and shows how she became a poet warrior, working along with many others to obtain justice for her people.
Interspersed with her stories are some of her poems. I fell under her spell and was given a tale of healing, of the development of her talents, of how writing, painting and music gave her courage and wholeness and a map of the journey from oppression to freedom.
Now I am reading her latest poetry collection, An American Sunrise. Soon I will meet with my reading group to discuss both.
Joy Harjo is descended from Muscogee (Creek) ancestors, the very ones who walked the infamous Trail of Tears after being banished from their lands in the South. Those people ended that journey in what is now Oklahoma but was then called Indian Territory. Joy learned her people's history from her Aunt Lois.
"Before removal, our people were walking the tightrope of history. Immigrants were flooding illegally into our homelands, staking claims to our lands and houses even as we occupied them."
She also learned this history through experiences when she was visited by her ancestors in dreaming times and given teachings that enabled her to navigate her tumultuous childhood and young adult years. She tells us these stories and shows how she became a poet warrior, working along with many others to obtain justice for her people.
Interspersed with her stories are some of her poems. I fell under her spell and was given a tale of healing, of the development of her talents, of how writing, painting and music gave her courage and wholeness and a map of the journey from oppression to freedom.
Now I am reading her latest poetry collection, An American Sunrise. Soon I will meet with my reading group to discuss both.
July 29, 2021
Harjo's newest memoir Poet Warrior is a triumph. She writes with such passion and raw emotion that you can't help but be captivated by her words. I actually went back partway through and started the book over because I wanted to re-read her thoughts and think about how they all fit together as the book went along. So much injustice has been done to Native Tribes, and Harjo exposes the heart-wrenching and convicting truth that simply being born Indian has been a crime. She speaks out of pain but challenges the reader to seek beauty. Her writing is so beautiful in its simplicity, and yet her messages of hope and community are complexly woven together with a mix of poetry, songs, history, and prose. Her book made me ponder about identity and culture, and I highly recommend it!
September 28, 2021
Poet Warrior is one of the most difficult and powerful books I have read in years. I have a hard time expressing the experience. Which Joy Harjo expresses very well: the difficulty in expressing her extraordinary capacity to perceive an event in greater heights and depths than most people. Since a child, she has been searching for "the words". I understand her search, yet find her very successful. For me, she evokes millennia old sadness from the driving out of Native American Indian Indigenous people, away from their stolen land and across the country. The sadness also arises from their natural respect for and partnering with Nature and her cycles, and being bull dozed into the current state. Yet, Harjo writes with positivity and optimism.
I may be in the minority, feeling the sadness in her words. Its almost like a fork tine on a filling, the pain that explodes from her words. Her descriptions are lured from a celestial abyss. I suspect that even with the power of her words, she expresses only a part of what she experiences. I could not corral my response into only mental or emotional - these two aspects ignite the spiritual - which then ignite the physical. Responses, responses...to a rare writer of poems and memoirs.
I may be in the minority, feeling the sadness in her words. Its almost like a fork tine on a filling, the pain that explodes from her words. Her descriptions are lured from a celestial abyss. I suspect that even with the power of her words, she expresses only a part of what she experiences. I could not corral my response into only mental or emotional - these two aspects ignite the spiritual - which then ignite the physical. Responses, responses...to a rare writer of poems and memoirs.
November 19, 2024
Total poetry and like living poetry if that makes sense. The authors narrative voice is so authentic it is heartbreaking. There was the perfect blend of poetry and memoir and I can’t recommend a book enough especially if you want to learn about the native experience.
December 1, 2022
Harjo's memoir is part poetry, and part prose. She sometimes includes poems by other poets. The book is not organized by the time events unfolded, but rather by theme. Hard has led a challenging life. She has lived in many places but was always drawn back to her native Oklahoma, and New Mexico.
The most haunting story she told was about the father of her granddaughter, her daughter's high school boyfriend. He was a math genius but when teachers (white) at his school he must be cheating because there was no way a Navajo kid could do this stuff. He quit school, and got a minimum wage job and was a father for a time to his baby. At some point he disappeared. A few years later, he was killed. He was run down in a dark Albuquerque street by a white man who said that there were too many Indians in the town. The man was never prosecuted.
This is such a deep book, full of many stories, and one I will go back to.
The most haunting story she told was about the father of her granddaughter, her daughter's high school boyfriend. He was a math genius but when teachers (white) at his school he must be cheating because there was no way a Navajo kid could do this stuff. He quit school, and got a minimum wage job and was a father for a time to his baby. At some point he disappeared. A few years later, he was killed. He was run down in a dark Albuquerque street by a white man who said that there were too many Indians in the town. The man was never prosecuted.
This is such a deep book, full of many stories, and one I will go back to.
November 1, 2021
I have seen Joy Harjo read and I loved her. I have read both of her memoirs and had the same feeling. Poet Warrior is a hybrid book of essay/ memoir and poetry. There are glimpses of her personal past as well as her ancestors. Her energy and writing skills are amazing, but there is such a thread of melancholy throughout. I never felt connected to her stories. Still, if you love Harjo's poetry it maybe worth a look. 3* for my enjoyment.
October 12, 2021
Recommended by Jo. Check our catalog: https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore...
April 9, 2022
I always feel somewhat lost when reading Harjo; as if I skipped over a key paragraph or like the key to understanding is dancing just out of the corner of my eye. It’s not, and I’ve stopped trying to wrap my head around it, because it’s like night vision: stare directly at the object, and you’ll never see it. Only by gazing obliquely do you have any chance of seeing its outline.
Side glances are not my thing. I’m left-brained, analytical. Give me bright direct sunlight, not shimmery reflections. I’m also trying to grow, in whatever few days are left to me, and that’s why I keep reading Harjo. We speak different languages, even inhabit slightly overlapping realities, but hers is a reality I can and want to learn from: one of forgiveness, compassion, strength, respect. I will never fully understand her works, but I want to be someone who keeps trying.
Side glances are not my thing. I’m left-brained, analytical. Give me bright direct sunlight, not shimmery reflections. I’m also trying to grow, in whatever few days are left to me, and that’s why I keep reading Harjo. We speak different languages, even inhabit slightly overlapping realities, but hers is a reality I can and want to learn from: one of forgiveness, compassion, strength, respect. I will never fully understand her works, but I want to be someone who keeps trying.
December 28, 2021
Joy Harjo writes “to hear poetry in person is to experience poetry as it is traditionally meant to be experienced, that is, you feel it breathe and experience how it travels out dynamically to become part of the winds skirting the earth, even as we inhale and take the words into our bloodstream” (175).
I’m a bit of a little black cloud when it comes to poetry, and I try to simplify things by saying I’m not a big fan. But as with many simplified things, that’s not really true. I have been moved by hearing poetry recited by the poet. Some poems do send shivers up my spine just from reading them, like the poem that Harjo introduces with that blurb above, Audre Lorde’s A Litany for Survival.
There are moments in this memoir of poetry and prose that I really love. I especially love Harjo’s validation of beauty. I had to unlearn the rule put upon us that beauty is frivolous and to read the words of someone who creates beauty I respect was affirming. I also love her embracing of always learning. This memoir is of few pages, but I felt close to Joy Harjo in the end, and that’s quite something since I’d known relatively little about her when I started. She’s wonderful.
I’m a bit of a little black cloud when it comes to poetry, and I try to simplify things by saying I’m not a big fan. But as with many simplified things, that’s not really true. I have been moved by hearing poetry recited by the poet. Some poems do send shivers up my spine just from reading them, like the poem that Harjo introduces with that blurb above, Audre Lorde’s A Litany for Survival.
There are moments in this memoir of poetry and prose that I really love. I especially love Harjo’s validation of beauty. I had to unlearn the rule put upon us that beauty is frivolous and to read the words of someone who creates beauty I respect was affirming. I also love her embracing of always learning. This memoir is of few pages, but I felt close to Joy Harjo in the end, and that’s quite something since I’d known relatively little about her when I started. She’s wonderful.
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February 22, 2025I think I might have enjoyed this more if I'd read the first memoir, Crazy Brave. But I'll never know, because I didn't enjoy it enough to go back and try it.
With memoirs, I always am grateful someone chose to share their life with us. This one stylistically just did not resonate with me; it was very short on autobiographical info and was not chronological either. It was a mix of poetry and musing prose, and I just couldn't get my finger on the pulse.
It did, however, contain some beautiful musings and I highlighted several passages that were thought provoking/moving.
With memoirs, I always am grateful someone chose to share their life with us. This one stylistically just did not resonate with me; it was very short on autobiographical info and was not chronological either. It was a mix of poetry and musing prose, and I just couldn't get my finger on the pulse.
It did, however, contain some beautiful musings and I highlighted several passages that were thought provoking/moving.
March 29, 2024
“To imagine the spirit of poetry is much like imagining the shape and size of the knowing…It is a kind of resurrection light; it is the tall ancestor spirit who has been with me since the beginning, or a bear or a hummingbird. It is a hundred horses running the land in a soft mist, or it is a woman undressing for her beloved in firelight. It is none of these things. It is more than everything."
July 24, 2024
Where Harjo’s first memoir Crazy Brave takes on a more traditional memoir, Poet Warrior is a beautiful blend of Harjo’s life story, her calling to the art of poetry, her poetic inspirations, and all of the ways that her Mvskoke heritage has guided her. I also found that her spoken word/rock album I Pray For My Enemies pairs very well with this book. Bless you Joy!
November 19, 2023
This woman is truly a spiritual teacher. What a beautiful person. I recommend reading her first memoir, Crazy Brave, first, and then this one.
November 23, 2022
I took my time with this memoir, which is somewhat rare for me, but it deserves to be savored. There's an abundance of wisdom in this short book. I found myself underlining many lines on each page. So many things resonated, despite Harjo's life and background being so different from my own.
In some ways, it's not the type of memoir I typically read, and I missed some things about that--I wished it had more narrative drive and felt like it was going somewhere, building to something. But I think that's part of its beauty--it's reflective, meandering, and nonlinear. Still, I wanted more depth at times. She seems to be going for breadth rather than depth. We moved on quickly from a few things I wanted more of!
I learned a lot about Native culture, spiritual beliefs, and more. This seemed like the perfect time to be reading it, right before the colonizer holiday Thanksgiving here in the States.
In some ways, it's not the type of memoir I typically read, and I missed some things about that--I wished it had more narrative drive and felt like it was going somewhere, building to something. But I think that's part of its beauty--it's reflective, meandering, and nonlinear. Still, I wanted more depth at times. She seems to be going for breadth rather than depth. We moved on quickly from a few things I wanted more of!
I learned a lot about Native culture, spiritual beliefs, and more. This seemed like the perfect time to be reading it, right before the colonizer holiday Thanksgiving here in the States.
December 1, 2021
This is why I love things like Native American Heritage Month (and why we need it). I'm not sure that I would have arrived at this otherwise and it was beautiful. This is one that I need to keep on the shelves and re-read. It was absolutely gorgeous.
Prepare - this was a beautiful poem
"We can observe the story, which is mental; feel the story, which is physical; let the story go, which is emotional; then forgive the story, which is spiritual, after which we use the materials of it to build a house of knowledge." - I've been doing this for two years and this sentence resonates so much.
"They tell her that every seven years marks a renewal, a shift, and a test. Seven is considered a sacred number." - my next birthday just became more fun/important!
"Begin every morning, tending this fire." - great encouragement for a morning meditation practice, which I'm trying (and mostly failing) to cultivate
"Some of the most important stories are not in words, not in poems or other forms of speaking, but in objects of use and beauty." - just, yes.
For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in its Human Feet - another gorgeous poem
"We keep our vibration higher by prayer, by kindness, by taking care of what we were given to do, by cleaning ourselves of negative thoughts that originate within or come from others, by cleaning with water, by humility, by being in the real world, away from concrete and square buildings, by speaking only that which holds truth." - always need to spend more time in the woods
"Just because you know what you are supposed to do and agree to the path doesn't guarantee that it will be easy." - keeping this one close as we embark on the next life adventure
The contrast of the colonization of the coca leaves with the original indigenous usage was so powerful. A simple but powerful reminder of the harm we have caused.
I beg everyone to read this - there's something for everyone to learn here.
Prepare - this was a beautiful poem
"We can observe the story, which is mental; feel the story, which is physical; let the story go, which is emotional; then forgive the story, which is spiritual, after which we use the materials of it to build a house of knowledge." - I've been doing this for two years and this sentence resonates so much.
"They tell her that every seven years marks a renewal, a shift, and a test. Seven is considered a sacred number." - my next birthday just became more fun/important!
"Begin every morning, tending this fire." - great encouragement for a morning meditation practice, which I'm trying (and mostly failing) to cultivate
"Some of the most important stories are not in words, not in poems or other forms of speaking, but in objects of use and beauty." - just, yes.
For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in its Human Feet - another gorgeous poem
"We keep our vibration higher by prayer, by kindness, by taking care of what we were given to do, by cleaning ourselves of negative thoughts that originate within or come from others, by cleaning with water, by humility, by being in the real world, away from concrete and square buildings, by speaking only that which holds truth." - always need to spend more time in the woods
"Just because you know what you are supposed to do and agree to the path doesn't guarantee that it will be easy." - keeping this one close as we embark on the next life adventure
The contrast of the colonization of the coca leaves with the original indigenous usage was so powerful. A simple but powerful reminder of the harm we have caused.
I beg everyone to read this - there's something for everyone to learn here.
December 27, 2022
A beautiful book about transitions, about teachers and guides who help us move through life, and about a passion for words that transcends boundaries. This memoir of Poet Laureate Joy Harjo recounts her life as a child with a troubled mother, her experiences coming of age as a young activist and poet, her life learning from the writing teachers she knew (also, I would posit, teachers of life), and her own motherhood and grandmotherhood. Storytelling is emphasized; I love the description of the way that objects passed through the generations, like a cooking pot or a family table that everyone gathers around, become touchstones that continue the familial or cultural story. The book is interspersed with poetry - much of it Harjo's own, but some of it also from poets she admired or poets who mentored her, everyone from Federico Garcia Lorca to Meridel Le Sueur to Adrienne Rich to Audre Lorde. She places herself firmly in Native culture and traditions but also in our collective poetic landscape. This is a treasure to be savored as you trace Harjo's sacred journey from Girl-Warrior to Poet Warrior, and a wonderful companion to her collections of poetry. I read them out of order, but next I hope to seek out her first memoir, Crazy Brave.
November 7, 2021
Joy Harjo has a lifetime of experience with the burden of shame, and possesses full knowledge of historical trauma, not just the tribal history but her personal history. Right from the start of the new memoir, Poet Warrior, her theme is, “Let go that which has burdened your family … or disturbed your soul (3).” When she faced the legacy of shame, “it can linger for years, generations (29),” in this instance, from physical abuse by her father, she found a transcendent courage and a way out. How does she achieve this transcendence? “Grow poetry in the debris left behind by rage (47).” Many things were tried before she came to be a poet, a nursing career, alcohol to deaden the pain, church (which she left).
I’ve often seen elements of magical realism in Joy’s writing, a style associated more with the Latin writers such as Isabel Allende and Gabriel Marquez, supernatural phenomena presented in an otherwise real world setting; “she called on the panther,” climbed on its back (90); and fought abduction by demons with the help of a Four Corners medicine man (116); she has a meeting with the Council “made up essentially of Old Ones” when she arrives at a crossroads in her life (144).
This book is a good source for obtaining a good understanding of Native American spiritual traditions. One that is nearly universal, a part of my northern Canadian Ojibwe heritage, is “the fire inside.” “Tend your relationship with the Creator, begin every morning tending this fire… (76),” guidance that echoes almost word for word what Manitoulin Island Ojibwe elder Lillian taught us, “Each of us carries a fire within. Whether it’s through the knowledge we have, or through our experiences and associations, we are responsible for maintaining that fire.” Her parents would say, at the end of the day, “My daughter, how is your fire burning?”
This spirituality is a more personal one, an inner relationship of communion with the Spirit or the Creator, quite distinct from ritual observances like the Sun Dance or the sweat lodge which both often involve physical endurance, an ordeal of suffering.
She also tells the reader of the Muskoke-Creek tribe’s version of the seven Original Instructions, a tradition shared by many tribes. Who gave them is lost in ancient legend although they originate with Creator.
Joy’s wisdom, poetry and her memoir help me deal with the shame unhealed in my family. I myself have often buried it and it has not been confronted honestly in a healing way. But it is no good burying it. To have more love, to learn how to love more deeply and sincerely, we have to let the shame flow out of our hearts, not remain stagnating in a deep well blocked by stones. Growing “poetry in the debris” has also become a way for me to transcend the shame.
I’ve often seen elements of magical realism in Joy’s writing, a style associated more with the Latin writers such as Isabel Allende and Gabriel Marquez, supernatural phenomena presented in an otherwise real world setting; “she called on the panther,” climbed on its back (90); and fought abduction by demons with the help of a Four Corners medicine man (116); she has a meeting with the Council “made up essentially of Old Ones” when she arrives at a crossroads in her life (144).
This book is a good source for obtaining a good understanding of Native American spiritual traditions. One that is nearly universal, a part of my northern Canadian Ojibwe heritage, is “the fire inside.” “Tend your relationship with the Creator, begin every morning tending this fire… (76),” guidance that echoes almost word for word what Manitoulin Island Ojibwe elder Lillian taught us, “Each of us carries a fire within. Whether it’s through the knowledge we have, or through our experiences and associations, we are responsible for maintaining that fire.” Her parents would say, at the end of the day, “My daughter, how is your fire burning?”
This spirituality is a more personal one, an inner relationship of communion with the Spirit or the Creator, quite distinct from ritual observances like the Sun Dance or the sweat lodge which both often involve physical endurance, an ordeal of suffering.
She also tells the reader of the Muskoke-Creek tribe’s version of the seven Original Instructions, a tradition shared by many tribes. Who gave them is lost in ancient legend although they originate with Creator.
Joy’s wisdom, poetry and her memoir help me deal with the shame unhealed in my family. I myself have often buried it and it has not been confronted honestly in a healing way. But it is no good burying it. To have more love, to learn how to love more deeply and sincerely, we have to let the shame flow out of our hearts, not remain stagnating in a deep well blocked by stones. Growing “poetry in the debris” has also become a way for me to transcend the shame.
December 2, 2022
Incredible and transcendent and visceral and tactile - I love the interweaving of poetry with story and the threads of ritual and story and voice and family connections. Some of the gorgeous, chant like sections resonated in my ears and I want to memorize them and repeat them. As Harjo relates the teachers she has had in her life, I thought of many of mine and count this memoir as one of them. (I’d love to use this book as a writing class text! ❤️)
June 1, 2023
I generally enjoy Harjo's writing. The blend of memoir and poetry was well done, Harjo's story touching, and the writing quite effective. It was so interesting to hear some personal accounts of spiritual events, and I always appreciate more insight into Indigenous world views and practices.
November 28, 2021
This book found me at the perfect time. The wisdom between these pages is timeless and relevant - especially for our current world. Harjo’s second memoir touched me and transformed me at a deep level. Mvto, Poet Warrior.
January 13, 2026
Beautiful
January 1, 2026
This is a thoughtful memoir that reflects deeply through poetry and storytelling. I really liked listening to the first (and I believe only?) Indigenous Poet Laureate of the United States read her book - it felt strong and purposeful and the poetry could be read properly. Now I would like to sit down with a paper copy of one of her books and savour the language a bit more and to be able to go back over her beautiful words and expressions a bit more easily. Well worth the read.
September 20, 2025
This is a loosely formed narrative of Harjo’s becoming. It is full of poetry, stories handed down from the old ones and grace. Take your time with this and breathe in its wisdom.
October 23, 2021
I’ve been told that you can’t tell a book by its cover, but this might be an exception. Joy Harjo, in her newest book and second memoir, Poet Warrior, laces her story together in poetry and lyrical prose. In the six segments named Ancestral Roots, Becoming, A Postcolonial Tale, Diamond Light, Teachers, and Sunset, she traces her own growth from her ancestors to her grandchildren. At every juncture, her heritage and her family are vital.
In an interview for Poets and Writers, she gives her description of this story, “There is rhythm and timing, and the best storytellers have rhythm. And rhythmically, I prefer to swing. . .What emerged and surprised me as it surfaced was a long poem that winds through the book, a book which Girl Warrior comes of age and in the coming of age discovers poetry.” In the very beginning, “The Council dressed Girl Warrior’s spirit for the journey to enter the story, to make change. They placed the map in her heart.” Then comes the day when the Girl Warrior is transformed and becomes a woman to be called “Poet Warrior.” Using her own definition, she rates as a “best storyteller.”
Harjo recounts the difficulties of heartache and loss, of being a young single mother, and of a meandering path through music to find her way to poetry. A bit of humor here and there brings a vision I share in her mother’s mother who was better kept away from the cooking fire and her own mother who planted flowers in the traditional cooking pot.
In case there was any doubt, Poet Warrior verifies her selection as Poet Laureate. Her membership in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation gives authenticity to her account of traditions in these ancestors and family and makes the cover an accurate portrayal for what is inside the book. It is a book for those who love a personal story done in lyrical writing.
In an interview for Poets and Writers, she gives her description of this story, “There is rhythm and timing, and the best storytellers have rhythm. And rhythmically, I prefer to swing. . .What emerged and surprised me as it surfaced was a long poem that winds through the book, a book which Girl Warrior comes of age and in the coming of age discovers poetry.” In the very beginning, “The Council dressed Girl Warrior’s spirit for the journey to enter the story, to make change. They placed the map in her heart.” Then comes the day when the Girl Warrior is transformed and becomes a woman to be called “Poet Warrior.” Using her own definition, she rates as a “best storyteller.”
Harjo recounts the difficulties of heartache and loss, of being a young single mother, and of a meandering path through music to find her way to poetry. A bit of humor here and there brings a vision I share in her mother’s mother who was better kept away from the cooking fire and her own mother who planted flowers in the traditional cooking pot.
In case there was any doubt, Poet Warrior verifies her selection as Poet Laureate. Her membership in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation gives authenticity to her account of traditions in these ancestors and family and makes the cover an accurate portrayal for what is inside the book. It is a book for those who love a personal story done in lyrical writing.
January 18, 2024
I generally enjoyed the loose structure and poetry in this memoir. To me, the novel’s hyperspirituality could be both extremely compelling and a bit overwrought at times. Same with the way it dealt with the place of science and technology in the contemporary era.
I was most impressed by the ways that Joy Harjo wrote about childhood, adult, generational and societal trauma with such care. All aspects are written with the utmost generosity to all actors and with the reader in mind. The pain is not sensationalized or dramatized. It is real and not avoided and soothed by Harjo’s outlook on life. I wish to be so in tune.
I was most impressed by the ways that Joy Harjo wrote about childhood, adult, generational and societal trauma with such care. All aspects are written with the utmost generosity to all actors and with the reader in mind. The pain is not sensationalized or dramatized. It is real and not avoided and soothed by Harjo’s outlook on life. I wish to be so in tune.
October 28, 2021
Took a flight through the gem of poetry. Landed a little more humble than before.
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