Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light

Joy Harjo has been writing poetry for a half century now and is a major stakeholder in the move to incorporate indigenous American voices. I remember her from the scene twenty five years ago when the post of American Poet Laureate unlikely, even for a single term, let alone three, not from lack of talent, but because it was one of those visions never imagined back in those days. Now her work is firmly in the canon of significant contribution to English language letters and taught in schools everywhere.

This is a selection from her work, fifty poems in all, over her whole career with notes on each poem at the end. She has a voice that is hard to mistake, forceful but not aggressive, free to yoke together the landscapes and people she has known, and to state what she has seen that other people never seem to mention. I especially like the shorter pieces with the economy and compression she displays so effectively to bring forth beauty. I don't know whether this is the kind of volume which is the best introduction for someone who wants to get to know her writing for the first time or whether it would be easier to start with one of the books where the poems are closer together in time and the connections between them might be more direct.

I read this book as an advance reader copy through Netgalley in exchange for sharing my review.