A review by morgob
An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo

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.