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cpoole's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
I’m typically not a reader of poetry but I’ve been interested in Joy Harjo, so this seemed like a perfect start to her work. And it is beautiful! Featuring imagery from her own personal life (an especially moving scene at her mother’s deathbed), as well as the collective Native American experience, ie the Trail of Tears. The audio (read by Harjo) is perfection!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Forced institutionalization
stevia333k's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
3.75
I listened to this at single speed because it's a poetry book, not necessarily an information book. It was hard to listen to because of my own experiences of gender dysphoria of school faculty telling us how people in however-many years would surveil our corpses & determine our sex & maybe gender expression, but not our personalities.
Also there is actual information in here, such as about the trail of tears, and mechanisms of genocide. Like there was a quote given from 1937, and it felt so recent. (Currently there's an escalation of ethnic cleansing on the gaza strip.)
So like seeing this indigenous work is important for not doing self-indigenization when processing trauma (such as from genocide against lgbtqia+ people, disabled people) as a settler.
As a sign of the times (2019) & settler-fragility, this book uses the term immigrants to refer to european settlers who as a community, chose to be colonizers instead of welcome guests. I'm not sure how to feel about that due to how "immigrant" has still been weaponized by said white settlers, and because I've become less patriotic than I was when I thought AOC/Bernie Sanders/DSA had a chance at being administrators.
That being said, the blues is connected to residential school trauma (at least hers) & it's like... This poem book is from 2019, and I read this in 2023. I learned this year that the blues was titled the blues because west africa (where a lot of black people were kidnapped from during the trans-Atlantic slave trade) uses an 11-note music scale while Europeans used a 7-note scale. European supremacists were like white is universal so anything that isn't the 7-note frequency is odd/blue.
At first listen I'm sure which way Harjo means to go with the saying the blues are American. (To be clear, I think this is referring to after the label of blues was applied to the 11-note scale brought by kidnapped black peoples.) Like is this is a re-up of "new americana" (2015) by halsey? Is Harjo meaning how an audience & feedback between the audience & performers is part of theater? Because to be clear, she does include samples she tries to sing herself of the songs she's talking about & it does feed into some papers I read once about decolonizing music & decolonial art.
- (this one is about public art) Dylan Robinson (2022) Reparative interpellation: public art’s Indigenous and non-human publics, Journal of Visual Culture, 21(1), pp.69– 84
- (this is the one about decolonizing music. I found Harjo gave a better sampling than this essay gave because it's like in order to learn about different standards had by colonized peoples, you need to learn those standards, etc.) Dylan Robinson (2022) Giving / Taking Notice, Performance Matters, 8(1), pp.24–36
So point being, this is kind of a book for when thinking about 2019-esque DSA & "new americana". While IDK if I'd recommend the entire book to people, I'd definitely recommend some of the poems, especially about surviving residential school. (Basically they would escape the campus, listen to blues, and drink, self-medicate, and imagine/dissociate.)
Also there is actual information in here, such as about the trail of tears, and mechanisms of genocide. Like there was a quote given from 1937, and it felt so recent. (Currently there's an escalation of ethnic cleansing on the gaza strip.)
So like seeing this indigenous work is important for not doing self-indigenization when processing trauma (such as from genocide against lgbtqia+ people, disabled people) as a settler.
As a sign of the times (2019) & settler-fragility, this book uses the term immigrants to refer to european settlers who as a community, chose to be colonizers instead of welcome guests. I'm not sure how to feel about that due to how "immigrant" has still been weaponized by said white settlers, and because I've become less patriotic than I was when I thought AOC/Bernie Sanders/DSA had a chance at being administrators.
That being said, the blues is connected to residential school trauma (at least hers) & it's like... This poem book is from 2019, and I read this in 2023. I learned this year that the blues was titled the blues because west africa (where a lot of black people were kidnapped from during the trans-Atlantic slave trade) uses an 11-note music scale while Europeans used a 7-note scale. European supremacists were like white is universal so anything that isn't the 7-note frequency is odd/blue.
At first listen I'm sure which way Harjo means to go with the saying the blues are American. (To be clear, I think this is referring to after the label of blues was applied to the 11-note scale brought by kidnapped black peoples.) Like is this is a re-up of "new americana" (2015) by halsey? Is Harjo meaning how an audience & feedback between the audience & performers is part of theater? Because to be clear, she does include samples she tries to sing herself of the songs she's talking about & it does feed into some papers I read once about decolonizing music & decolonial art.
- (this one is about public art) Dylan Robinson (2022) Reparative interpellation: public art’s Indigenous and non-human publics, Journal of Visual Culture, 21(1), pp.69– 84
- (this is the one about decolonizing music. I found Harjo gave a better sampling than this essay gave because it's like in order to learn about different standards had by colonized peoples, you need to learn those standards, etc.) Dylan Robinson (2022) Giving / Taking Notice, Performance Matters, 8(1), pp.24–36
So point being, this is kind of a book for when thinking about 2019-esque DSA & "new americana". While IDK if I'd recommend the entire book to people, I'd definitely recommend some of the poems, especially about surviving residential school. (Basically they would escape the campus, listen to blues, and drink, self-medicate, and imagine/dissociate.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Drug use, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Rape, Cultural appropriation, Animal death, Child death, Death, Grief, Religious bigotry, Trafficking, War, Alcohol, and Alcoholism
vampireph4ze's review
emotional
informative
inspiring
4.5
such beautiful writing and impossible to turn away from. i wanted to continue reading forever. i call Oklahoma my home, but was rarely taught about the Native Americans' experience because of white washed history. luckily, i've broken free from that bubble, but this definitely opened my eyes to a more personal and emotional level. i could feel Harjo's thoughts and meaning radiate off the pages. her writing and choice of wording is absolutely ethereal and can transport you to a completely different place while also remaining so real and truthful - not shying away from the ugly and violent past. i think everyone should have the chance to read this and really truly take it all in. i will probably be re-reading at some point to get the full experience once again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation
Moderate: Death of parent and Grief
gabbygarcia's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.25
I read around a third of the physical copy before having to return it to the library. For once in my life I'm grateful for a library due date--It gave me the chance to borrow the audiobook instead. Harjo's poetry really lends itself to an audiobook format--I highly recommend it! So lovely to hear her reading her own words. It's a breathtaking book, really song-like & extraordinary.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Genocide, and Grief
serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
An American Sunrise is a powerful mix of the personal and political, the past and the present. Joy Harjo returns to the sites of her Muscogee ancestor’s Trial of Tears and draws connections between what happened then and what is happening now to Native Americans generally, herself, her family, and in society more broadly - the treatment of migrants from south of the border being the most obvious of the latter. While there is grief and anger at what was lost in the past and what is happening today, there is also joy in the present and hope for the future. The raw power in some of her lines really took my breath away. I can only imagine the audio, with Harjo reading her own words, would be even more impactful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide and Grief
spinesinaline's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
I was considering reading a digital copy of this one but a friend highly recommended the audiobook and that made for a great read. This is such personal poetry so it’s really special to hear it from Harjo herself and her intonation helps with understanding and following the poems.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Death of parent
thereaderfriend's review
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, and Grief
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Death of parent
eire2011's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This was beautiful, magical, heartbreaking, hopeful, mysterious and often lyrical.
I highly recommend checking out this collection of poems!
Trigger warnings: death, cultural erasure, oppression, mentions of drug abuse, hardship
I highly recommend checking out this collection of poems!
Trigger warnings: death, cultural erasure, oppression, mentions of drug abuse, hardship
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death, Drug abuse, and Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism
goblingirlreads's review
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
I don't usually pick up poetry or nonfiction but I'm really grateful that I picked up this book. Joy Harjo is masterful with language and I was moved many times by her incredible poetry. The poems speak directly about the experience of being an indigenous person in America and wow, is it filled with pain, heartbreak, death, and grief. Throughout the poems however there is also hope, music, stories that have been passed down by ancestors, and the encouragement to keep moving towards a better future through the pain. I was very moved by this book and I'm glad to have read it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, and Violence
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