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morgob's review
5.0
I love, love, love Joy Harjo's poetry, and it brought me such joy to finally read a complete book of it. There are so many in this book that I loved that I can't name them individually. I really just loved the whole book. Joy Harjo has such a unique and calming voice, both in her poetry and in speaking. As such, I tried to do my best to find as many videos of her reading the poetry in this book as possible. I found quite a few online to listen to as I read along, and that really made it special for me. She sometimes likes to sing some of her lines (she is a musician too, and sometimes sets her poems to music after writing them), which makes it fun and unique to hear in her own voice. I sincerely recommend to people, whether you're going to read this collection or not, to listen to her read some of her poetry. I also just love the way she incorporates such history, both familial and ancestral, into her poems. It made these in particular very powerful. I loved every page, and I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the end of her reign as U.S. Poet Laureate.
historyofjess's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
4.0
It's been a long while since I first fell in love with Harjo's writing in a college class and I haven't read nearly as much of her work since then as I should have. Her poetry is so effortlessly beautiful. It can be personal but also worldly, whether writing about a personal loss or generational grief of her people.
drozdyy245's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.0
mctoomanybooks's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Listening to Joy read some of these poems enhances the experience. It's easy to see why she was Poet Laureate twice.
thatokiebird's review against another edition
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
I may have finally discovered the successful way for me to consume poetry, personally - audiobooks! Listening to Joy Harjo read her own poems, in the correct pace, with the inflections and exclamations, she intended is so good. Such a better way for me to read poetry, versus my own clumsy usual way of reading with a partially wandering mind.
An American Sunrise is short, the audiobook is read in less than two hours. The poems are short, I imagine they're each a page or less in book form. There is vulnerability, sadness, resentment, reflection, wonder, beauty flowing throughout the pages. It's easy to sink in to her words and let them wash over you as she reflects in an almost musical way.
An American Sunrise is short, the audiobook is read in less than two hours. The poems are short, I imagine they're each a page or less in book form. There is vulnerability, sadness, resentment, reflection, wonder, beauty flowing throughout the pages. It's easy to sink in to her words and let them wash over you as she reflects in an almost musical way.