Poet Warrior A Memoir
Poet Warrior A Memoir by Joy Harjo, published by National Geographic Books on September 7, 2021, is a vivid exploration of the author’s life as a three-term U.S. poet laureate. This first edition spans 240 pages and presents a lyrical narrative that invites readers to reflect on themes of love and justice through Harjo’s experiences. The memoir delves into her journey as a “poet-warrior,” highlighting the heartaches, losses, and realizations that have shaped her identity and artistry.
In this work, Harjo intertwines personal anecdotes with the stories of her ancestors and the influences that have inspired her poetry, including notable figures and cultural traditions. The prose flows seamlessly between narrative forms, offering insights into her grief, the impact of her heritage, and the rituals that sustain her as an artist and community member. Poet Warrior serves as a spiritual map, guiding readers through Harjo’s transformative journey while celebrating the rich tapestry of her life and the power of poetry to evoke compassion and healing.
Official synopsis Publisher
National bestseller
An ALA Notable Book
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 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.
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