FANTASTIC! ( )

Prior to ‘Poet Warrior’

Holy crepe, I was not ready for this book. It combines the raw emotion of Harjo's poems with a very difficult personal history, similar to the book Educated. I am impressed by Harjo's artistry and I would like to read more of her work, but for now I need some time to process everything I've read. ( )

This is the first book I've read by author Joy Harjo. Her writing and poetry are amazing. I connected easily with her and my heart and soul were troubled by her troubled and lifted up through her poetry shared in the book. I now want to read more of Joy Harjo's work. A must read in my view. ( )

tired of drinking, getting pregnant. husband gets drunk and beats you, then you come to and get a PHD. ( )

When Sun leaves at dusk, it makes a doorway.
We have access to ancestors, to eternity.
Breathe out.
Ask for forgiveness.
Let all hurts and failures go.
Let them go.

Thus ends Harjo's memoir of her early life, and her path to poetry. This epilogue seems to encapsulate her world view, the way she goes about life - with a deep connection to the deep genetics of her ancestors, the searing pain of her young life, and the quickening yearn to abdicate the latter and make room for the former. Her journey to poetry is the journey of all to hope.

Those coming to the book need to be patient with the narrative, as it is not always a Western, linear one. One thought connects to the past, and the past, and the past, before returning. It's a Native narrative form, and it creates that space necessary to put things into a broader and more deeply connected personal history.

Of finally allowing poetry into her life, she writes:

To imagine the spirit of poetry is much like imagining the shape and size of the knowing. It is a kind of resurrection light; it is the tall ancestor spirit who was been with me since the beginning, or a bear or hummingbird. It is a hundred horses running the land in a soft mist, or it is a woman undressing for her beloved in firelight. It is more than everything. 'You're coming with me, poor thing. You don't know how to listen. You don't know how to speak. You don't know how to sing. I will teach you.' I followed poetry.

5 bones!!!!!

Highly recommended. ( )

nonfiction/memoir - Muskogee-Creek poet/writer, artist, mother, survivor of domestic abuse, and woman with anxiety/panic attacks.
It is very much possible that other people experience a spiritual connection that is beyond my comprehension; I didn't get much out of her poems/dreams/stories but I will trust that there is significance there that is just over my head. Even so, I enjoyed her writing and thought this was worth a read. ( )

I played with garter snakes, horned toads, frogs, June bugs, and other creatures. Some of my favorite playmates were roly-poly bugs. They busied about with several legs and didn't trip themselves up. They protected themselves when threatened by curling into a ball. As we played, I could see the light shining around their little armored bodies.

Roly-polys! This is like an automatic 5 star from me! OK, no, I will be good. 3.5 stars overall. I must say I really enjoyed this book, maybe more so because even though I know next to nothing of Native American culture, it is clear that this author and her folks are my people. From the children running through yards playing with reptiles and bugs to the struggles making ends meet and the bouts of too much alcohol and smoke and the housework that is never done and the poetry that might make it all better. My folks, to the core. (I say this with full awareness of one massive genocide standing between our peoples, which kills me because I am helpless as to what can bring any healing. It is clear to me that we are different, but as all differences do, this resolves down to our same. Because we have been the same kind of coward, and I aspire to be the same kind of brave.)

As a read, it is a little disjointed having no grounding in the dream travelling and the visions of things that happen before birth and such, but by the end of the book these things fall into a rhythm, become one of its charms. But then it all ends very abruptly. Nonetheless, I probably would round this up to a 4 star were it not for one of the most gripping stories she tells being "partially fictionalized," with no indication of what exactly was fictionalized. Names changed to protect the innocent? What actually happened? People's reactions? No idea. It is one of the best stories in the book. Ah, well. (3 stars means "I liked it" and I in this case I totally recommend this book.)

From page 56:
And whom do I call my enemy?
An enemy must be worthy of engagement.
I turn in the direction of the sun and keep walking.
It's the heart that asks the question, not my furious mind.
The heart is the smaller cousin of the sun.
It sees and knows everything.
It hears the gnashing even as it hears the blessing.
A door to the mind should open only from the heart.
An enemy who gets in risks the danger of becoming a friend. ( )

Jo Harjo was the first Native American (Creek/Muscokgee) to be chosen as U.S. Poet Laureate (2019). I have admired her as a poet so it came as a surprise to me that I didn't like her prose. Although many reviewers mention that the flow is beautiful, for me some sentences had so rough a flow that the choice of words was distracting to the thought. This memoir covers Harjo's life from a terrible childhood to her early thirties. Although I struggled with the style, I'm interested in her story and if a following book is published I'll want to read it. ( )

A memoir that only a poet could write. Flowing stories with Native American roots. A wonderful read from America’s current Poet Laureate. ( )

This book is alive with spirit, with feelings and hardship survived, with beautiful language.
My copy has indecipherable marginalia, which at first I imagined to be Cherokee syllabary expanding upon the text with a fuller meaning that English can't express. It sparked my own imagination. Now, on closer examination, I think it might be Kanji/Hanzi.
There are many passages that made me pause, but I only managed to note: "She exists in me now, just as I will and already do within my grandchildren. No one ever truly dies. The desires of our hearts make a path. We create legacy with our thoughts and dreams. This legacy either will give those who follow us joy on their road or will give them sorrow." (p.149)
"Music is direct communication with the sacred..." (p. 85) "Every sould has a distinct song. ...Because music is a language that lives in the spiritual realms, we can hear it, we can notate it and create it, but we cannot hold it in our hands." (p.19) ( )

I really liked this. It's short, well written, and is magical while real. ( )

“A story matrix connects all of us.
There are rules, processes, and circles of responsibility in this world. And the story begins exactly where it is supposed to begin. We cannot skip any part.”

“I am born of brave people and we were in need of warriors.”

I discovered Harjo, through her poetry, recently finishing In Mad Love and War. It was a collection, I immediately fell in love with and once, I learned she had penned a memoir, I knew I had to read it. It did not disappoint. Harjo was born in Oklahoma, in 1951 and is a member of the Mvskoke/Creek Nation. Her story follows her childhood, ducking her abusive stepfather and struggling on the fringes of poverty. She finally enrolls in an Indian arts program, as a teenager, finding solace in painting, music and eventually poetry, her true salvation.
As expected, the writing here is beautiful, as we watch this troubled girl, blossom into an artistic young woman. I hope Harjo continues her story, in another volume.

“It was in that same classroom I learned to read. The moment the letters became sounds and sounds became stories and poems, I lit up...Each book was it's own matrix and contained a world you could carry in your hands. I read all of the books in the first-grade classroom, then started on the books in the second-grade classroom.” ( )

Great memoir ( )

I envy Joy Harjo’s ability to occupy the spirit world and the concrete world simultaneously. My own sporadic travels between those dimensions are self-conscious at best. And while I can only imagine my ancestors, Harjo’s live and breathe in her daily life. Past present and future, from the creation legend to the afterlife, weave in and out of Crazy Brave in no particular order, yet in the reading it feels as natural as any story that’s told chronologically. She does not use time and spirit to escape the harsh realities of the mundane world. This memoir is a travelogue, too––about twentieth-century Native America. It describes how a gifted artist overcame prejudice and poverty, to follow her muse. In that respect, it is informative, insightful, and inspirational. Yet even those expansive words are inadequate descriptors of how Joy Harjo’s writing affected me, because Crazy Brave gave me an inkling of how my own little story is connected to the sweep of the earth’s history, and how all of it’s happening simultaneously. ( )

I have been a follower of Joy Harjo for many years. I have her books and CDs.
Her wisdom is deep, abundant and true. It is born of experience, pain and survival, though she imparts her truths with insight and clarity.

In this memoir, Joy Harjo recalls important aspects of her life. Joy’s journey in life has been a difficult one. Being of Native American heritage (though mixed), her experiences are clearly rooted in tradition and spirit. Yet, she has always felt this “knowing”. It has been her guide and her saving grace throughout her life. Her ability to trust her inner vision, her “knowing”, and this unspoken voice is indeed more than brave. Her example in following this is powerful.

I greatly respect the strong ties to nature and the earth found in Native American spirituality. I incorporate many of these beliefs and thoughts, personally. My own heritage is mixed and rough. Unfortunately, I do not know much about this part of my ancestral history.

In addition to this brave, lyrical memoir and her poetry, Joy Harjo is a gifted musician. I highly recommend all of her creative and important offerings. She is both inspiring and wise. ( )