Weaving sundown in a scarlet light : fifty poems for fifty years / Joy Harjo.
Record details
- ISBN: 9781324036487
- ISBN: 1324036486
- Physical Description: xviii, 127 pages ; 22 cm
- Edition: First edition.
- Publisher: New York : W. W. Norton & Company, 2022.
- Copyright: ©2023
Content descriptions
Formatted Contents Note: | Last song -- Are you still there? -- Anchorage -- For Alva Benson, and for those who have learned to speak -- Woman hanging from the thirteenth-floor window -- Remember -- New Orleans -- She had some horses -- I give you back -- My house is the red earth -- Grace -- Deer dancer -- For Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, whose spirit is present here and in the dappled stars -- Bird -- Rainy dawn -- Santa Fe -- Eagle poem -- Creation story -- Postcolonial tale -- Dawn appears with butterflies -- Perhaps the world ends here -- Map to the next world -- Emergence -- Path to the Milky Way leads through Los Angeles -- Equinox -- It's raining in Honolulu -- When the world as we knew it ended -- For calling the Spirit back from wandering the Earth in its human feet -- Rabbit is up to tricks -- No -- This morning I pray for my enemies -- Praise the rain -- Speaking tree -- Fall song -- Sunrise -- Break my heart -- Washing my mother's body -- How to write a poem in a time of war -- Running -- My man's feet -- Tobacco origin story -- Redbird love -- American sunrise -- Frog in a dry river -- Prepare -- Life of beauty -- How love blows through the trees -- Sundown walks to the edge of the story -- Somewhere -- Without. |
Search for related items by subject
Subject: | Harjo, Joy > Family > Poetry. American poetry. Creek Indians > History > Poetry. |
Genre: | Poetry. |
Available copies
- 13 of 13 copies available at Missouri Evergreen. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at Cass County.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 13 total copies.
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cass County Library-Northern Resource Center | 811.54 HAR 2022 (Text) | 0002206011138 | Adult Non-Fiction | Available | - |
Publishers Weekly Review
Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light : Fifty Poems for Fifty Years
Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Harjo's patient guidance, mastery of form, and emotional depth are on dazzling display in these 50 poems drawing from 50 years of her poetry career. Her sensitivity toward the human experience is everywhere evident, especially in "Bird" (for jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker), in which she writes, "I've always had a theory that some of us/ are born with nerve endings longer than our bodies," arriving at an indelible insight: "All poets/ understand the final uselessness of words. We are chords to/ other chords to other chords, if we're lucky, to melody." She revisits this idea in "Creation Story," remarking, "I am ashamed/ I never had the words/ to carry a friend from her death/ to the stars/ correctly.// Or the words to keep/ my people safe/ from drought/ or gunshot." "Eagle Poem" captures Harjo's interest in the natural world and cycles, opening, "To pray you open your whole self/ To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon/ To one whole voice that is you." Harjo connects the human family, and the earthly and spiritual realms, in poems that sparkle with generosity and brilliance. (Nov.)
Library Journal Review
Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light : Fifty Poems for Fifty Years
Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
A former three-time U.S. Poet Laureate, Harjo celebrates her 50th year as a writer by gathering 50 of her best poems in this career-spanning volume. Powerful, personal, and deeply spiritual, these are the poems of a prophet, and as with the words of the greatest prophets, they transcend both category and culture, speaking with an awe-inspiring authority as they draw on Harjo's heritage as a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. "i want to go back / to New Mexico// it is the only way i know how to breathe" says the opening poem, while the closing poem observes "We will find each other again in a timeless weave of breathing." Here are poems that have inspired readers and poets to see the world anew and listen to the unheard stories all around them. As a sampling of her work, this slender volume is a great companion to 2002's How We Became Human. Like that volume, it ends with a lengthy section of notes about the inspiration and creation of each poem that sheds light on Harjo's career, her passions, and the people she loves, allowing readers to see even favorite and familiar poems with new eyes. VERDICT Harjo is a national treasure, perhaps even a national resource, and this important book is an essential addition to contemporary poetry collections everywhere.--Herman Sutter