A review by carolinefaireymeese
When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry by Jennifer Elise Foerster, Leanne Howe, Joy Harjo

dark funny hopeful lighthearted sad slow-paced
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

Harjo and her associate/managing editors joyfully marry the art of curation and anthologizing (often the bedfellows of cronyism and exclusion) with a well-organized celebration of the breadth of (written, English) Native Nations poetry. To a scale unlike any I have witnessed before, each poet is provided with a thorough biography and introduction, as well as the geographical regions each poet lives in or has roots in. And the poems themselves--they are everything, they span everything. Elegy for the horrors and joys of the past, commitment to and interrogation of the dualism of the present, scanning the future for a trail through language to illuminate once-occupied space and to reassert Native Nations' place in the cosmos.
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