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Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings: Poems
In these poems, the joys and struggles of the everyday are played against the grinding politics of being human. Beginning in a hotel room in the dark of a distant city, we travel through history and follow the memory of the Trail of Tears from the bend in the Tallapoosa River to a place near the Arkansas River. Stomp dance songs, blues, and jazz ballads echo throughout. Lost ancestors are recalled. Resilient songs are born, even as they grieve the loss of their country. Called a "magician and a master" (San Francisco Chronicle), Joy Harjo is at the top of her form in Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings.
160 pages, Paperback
First published September 28, 2015
About the author
Joy Harjo
88 books1,805 followersBio Joy Harjo
Joy Harjo was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and is a member of the Mvskoke Nation. She has released four award-winning CD's of original music and won a Native American Music Award (NAMMY) for Best Female Artist of the Year. She performs nationally and internationally solo and with her band, The Arrow Dynamics. She has appeared on HBO's Def Poetry Jam, in venues in every major U.S. city and internationally. Most recently she performed We Were There When Jazz Was Invented at the Chan Centre at UBC in Vancouver, BC, and appeared at the San Miguel Writer’s Conference in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Her one-woman show, Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light, which features guitarist Larry Mitchell premiered in Los Angeles in 2009, with recent performances at Joe’s Pub in New York City, LaJolla Playhouse as part of the Native Voices at the Autry, and the University of British Columbia. Her seven books of poetry include such well-known titles as How We Became Human- New and Selected Poems and She Had Some Horses. Her awards include the New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas, and the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America. She was recently awarded 2011 Artist of the Year from the Mvskoke Women’s Leadership Initiative, and a Rasmuson US Artists Fellowship. She is a founding board member and treasurer of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. Harjo writes a column Comings and Goings for her tribal newspaper, the Muscogee Nation News. Soul Talk, Song Language, Conversations with Joy Harjo was recently released from Wesleyan University Press. Crazy Brave, a memoir is her newest publication from W.W. Norton, and a new album of music is being produced by the drummer/producer Barrett Martin. She is at work on a new shows: We Were There When Jazz Was Invented, a musical story that proves southeastern indigenous tribes were part of the origins of American music. She lives in the Mvskoke Nation of Oklahoma.
Joy Harjo was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and is a member of the Mvskoke Nation. She has released four award-winning CD's of original music and won a Native American Music Award (NAMMY) for Best Female Artist of the Year. She performs nationally and internationally solo and with her band, The Arrow Dynamics. She has appeared on HBO's Def Poetry Jam, in venues in every major U.S. city and internationally. Most recently she performed We Were There When Jazz Was Invented at the Chan Centre at UBC in Vancouver, BC, and appeared at the San Miguel Writer’s Conference in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Her one-woman show, Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light, which features guitarist Larry Mitchell premiered in Los Angeles in 2009, with recent performances at Joe’s Pub in New York City, LaJolla Playhouse as part of the Native Voices at the Autry, and the University of British Columbia. Her seven books of poetry include such well-known titles as How We Became Human- New and Selected Poems and She Had Some Horses. Her awards include the New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas, and the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America. She was recently awarded 2011 Artist of the Year from the Mvskoke Women’s Leadership Initiative, and a Rasmuson US Artists Fellowship. She is a founding board member and treasurer of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. Harjo writes a column Comings and Goings for her tribal newspaper, the Muscogee Nation News. Soul Talk, Song Language, Conversations with Joy Harjo was recently released from Wesleyan University Press. Crazy Brave, a memoir is her newest publication from W.W. Norton, and a new album of music is being produced by the drummer/producer Barrett Martin. She is at work on a new shows: We Were There When Jazz Was Invented, a musical story that proves southeastern indigenous tribes were part of the origins of American music. She lives in the Mvskoke Nation of Oklahoma.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 400 reviews
May 8, 2017
Earlier this year I read Joy Harjo's debut Women Who Fell From the Sky: Poems where she first introduced herself as a leading Native American voice. Since its publication, Harjo has emerged as a critically acclaimed poet and musician, garnering multiple awards, and promoting Native American rights. In her latest collection, Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings, Harjo speaks of Natives' relationship with the land and how indigenous groups can preserve their culture moving forward.
Harjo begins her work with quotes from two of her granddaughters. She speaks of the importance of passing down traditions from generation to generation, the elders teaching what they know to their children. She writes of an instance when she takes her four day old granddaughter out in winter in Times Square to introduce her to the world. In this instance, she becomes one with the world, her soul a guardian on earth for all its living things. Harjo gleans examples from tribes throughout North America from Alaska to California to Hawaii to Cherokee to paint a picture of the special relationship native peoples have with their land.
As in her debut collection, Harjo teaches indigenous people to be wary of the white person. In her title, centerpiece poem, Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings, Harjo contrasts the ways in which native Americans and white Americans solve problems. She writes how whereas whites would gladly build a casino on native lands as a means of earning revenue, natives prefer to express themselves artistically through pow wows, music, poetry, and oral traditions told at campfires. She cites leading voices as Erdrich, Silko, Momaday, and Cisneros as poets and writers who have helped her in preserving cultures for future generations.
Harjo's poetry is full of deep prose. Her words are rich and speak to the land. While reading her worlds I feel as though I am floating and witnessing the unique relationship indigenous people share with the land. She alternates music, poetry, ballads, and one paragraph prose showing that artistic expression can come in all forms. When Harjo is not writing, she expresses her culture as a member of musical groups, and in this collection States her love of jazz, especially the saxophone. Flowing words mixed with warnings to avoid western culture as alcohol and life on the streets in large cities, Harjo once again asserts herself as a leading Native American voice, not just as an author, but as a leader.
Before this year, I did not think to read poetry, and the name Joy Harjo did not appear on my radar. After reading two of her collections, I am awed by her words, soothed by her relationship with nature. Poetry is a personal experience as it shows the uniqueness of human emotions. Joy Harjo once again tugs on the heartstrings and I rate this powerful collection 4.5 stars.
Harjo begins her work with quotes from two of her granddaughters. She speaks of the importance of passing down traditions from generation to generation, the elders teaching what they know to their children. She writes of an instance when she takes her four day old granddaughter out in winter in Times Square to introduce her to the world. In this instance, she becomes one with the world, her soul a guardian on earth for all its living things. Harjo gleans examples from tribes throughout North America from Alaska to California to Hawaii to Cherokee to paint a picture of the special relationship native peoples have with their land.
As in her debut collection, Harjo teaches indigenous people to be wary of the white person. In her title, centerpiece poem, Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings, Harjo contrasts the ways in which native Americans and white Americans solve problems. She writes how whereas whites would gladly build a casino on native lands as a means of earning revenue, natives prefer to express themselves artistically through pow wows, music, poetry, and oral traditions told at campfires. She cites leading voices as Erdrich, Silko, Momaday, and Cisneros as poets and writers who have helped her in preserving cultures for future generations.
Harjo's poetry is full of deep prose. Her words are rich and speak to the land. While reading her worlds I feel as though I am floating and witnessing the unique relationship indigenous people share with the land. She alternates music, poetry, ballads, and one paragraph prose showing that artistic expression can come in all forms. When Harjo is not writing, she expresses her culture as a member of musical groups, and in this collection States her love of jazz, especially the saxophone. Flowing words mixed with warnings to avoid western culture as alcohol and life on the streets in large cities, Harjo once again asserts herself as a leading Native American voice, not just as an author, but as a leader.
Before this year, I did not think to read poetry, and the name Joy Harjo did not appear on my radar. After reading two of her collections, I am awed by her words, soothed by her relationship with nature. Poetry is a personal experience as it shows the uniqueness of human emotions. Joy Harjo once again tugs on the heartstrings and I rate this powerful collection 4.5 stars.
January 8, 2019
This book snuck up on me. I forgot how a book of poems can sneak up on you. Perhaps my reading resolution for this year will be to seek out more entire books of poetry.
November 16, 2020
4.5 stars
Excellent in audio!
Excellent in audio!
October 1, 2023
'Everyone comes into the world with a job to do— I don’t mean working for a company, a corporation— we were all given gifts to share, even the animals, even the plants, minerals, clouds . . . all beings.'
Extraordinary jazz-infused poetry collection about identity, belonging, memory, heritage, and colonial erasure that sings as much at it cuts.
Extraordinary jazz-infused poetry collection about identity, belonging, memory, heritage, and colonial erasure that sings as much at it cuts.
November 25, 2022
Healing, beautiful, haunting.
Read
May 22, 2016Great, resonant - the title poem was especially powerful. Some of the poems didn't quite work for me, but most of them did; I'm glad I picked up this collection. She has a strong and unapologetic voice speaking many truths, and she does not shy away either from politics or spirituality.
It made me feel like translating several of her poems to Hungarian - I couldn't find anything already extant, only a blog post mentioning that her work should be translated. I agree with that.
Also yay for bilingual poetry - I am always happy to see this.
Thank you Iowa City Public Library for not only buying this volume, but putting it in a highlighted place on the new poetry acquisitions shelf.
It made me feel like translating several of her poems to Hungarian - I couldn't find anything already extant, only a blog post mentioning that her work should be translated. I agree with that.
Also yay for bilingual poetry - I am always happy to see this.
Thank you Iowa City Public Library for not only buying this volume, but putting it in a highlighted place on the new poetry acquisitions shelf.
November 13, 2020
Joy Harjo is a Native American award winning poet, musician (saxophonist and vocalist), performer, writer and educator. She is a member of the Muscogee/Creek Nation.
While reading this book, I also listened to some of her music albums for the first time and that turned out to be a very good combination.
This is a collection of poems, songs and other reflections in prose that explore the human condition, our (lost) connection with nature and all living creatures, trauma and healing, the power of music and creation, the meaning of language, symbols and myths.
* * * * *
Cricket Song
Tonight I catch a cricket song.
Sung by a cricked who wants the attention of another–
My thinking slides in the wake of the cricket’s sweet
Longing. It’s lit by the full moon as it makes a path
Over the slick grass of the whitest dark,
I doubt the cricket cares his singing is swinging starlight
To the worry that has darkened my min.
It is mating season.
They will find their way to each other by sounds.
Time and how are the mysterious elements of any life.
I will find my way home to you.
(Mvskoke Nation, June 23, 2013)
While reading this book, I also listened to some of her music albums for the first time and that turned out to be a very good combination.
This is a collection of poems, songs and other reflections in prose that explore the human condition, our (lost) connection with nature and all living creatures, trauma and healing, the power of music and creation, the meaning of language, symbols and myths.
* * * * *
Cricket Song
Tonight I catch a cricket song.
Sung by a cricked who wants the attention of another–
My thinking slides in the wake of the cricket’s sweet
Longing. It’s lit by the full moon as it makes a path
Over the slick grass of the whitest dark,
I doubt the cricket cares his singing is swinging starlight
To the worry that has darkened my min.
It is mating season.
They will find their way to each other by sounds.
Time and how are the mysterious elements of any life.
I will find my way home to you.
(Mvskoke Nation, June 23, 2013)
January 27, 2021
A mix of being American without really belonging
Read
June 8, 2016I loved this. It's an amazing drawing on multiple traditions in literature and music to form a kind of songbook collection with little moments in between, stories and fragments. Fiona (aged 10) and I read much of it together on the couch--it felt like steps and songs toward healing--felt the power of the blues. And there's a great poem for a daughter/grandaughter in there, too. Grateful to Craig Werner for the recommendation.
May 2, 2020
Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings by Poet Laureate Joy Harjo is simply an incredible collection of work. It not only demonstrates why she is Poet Laureate, but raises the bar of standards for that honor.
He poems manage to be both highly personal cultural statements and, simultaneously, statements of universal application. Love, hate, loss, family, pain, sorrow, conflict, justice, injustice and all the rest of humanity’s emotions differ from the same experiences in other humans only due to the character of the people experiencing them. The passion I feel in lovemaking, for example, cannot be exactly the same of the passion you feel in lovemaking, yet ‘passion’ is universal.
In spite of how really universal Harjo’s work is, she manages to portray also a beautiful, vivid and often painful picture of being a Native American in her Navajo Diné. The lies, betrayals, deceit and continuing racism of the Caucasian population both formed and still imprison the Navajo Nation, the nations of other indigenous Americans and, of course, the individuals within those cultures and nations. And even well-intentioned efforts by less racist modern Americans miss the entire point: it is NOT what can be done for the Native Americans, not about reparations (measured, of course in dollars), not about apologies such as the insulting one adopted by Congress a few years ago. Nor is it about what we can do in consultation and partnership with Native Americans, but about something much more, something irreparable that caused and causes wounds so deep, so painful and so pervasive that they cannot be rectified in any way in any amount of time.
Harjo’s poetry captures all of this.
Aside from its strength of being universal, the poetry also excels in its lack of rancor, bitterness, cynicism or revenge, but at the same time, it also reveals distrust and depression, the impacts of the ongoing genocidal crime, cannot be escaped, probably ever.
This is great poetry, a true demonstration of exactly why people ought to read GOOD poetry and where they will discover poetry that they can come to love.
He poems manage to be both highly personal cultural statements and, simultaneously, statements of universal application. Love, hate, loss, family, pain, sorrow, conflict, justice, injustice and all the rest of humanity’s emotions differ from the same experiences in other humans only due to the character of the people experiencing them. The passion I feel in lovemaking, for example, cannot be exactly the same of the passion you feel in lovemaking, yet ‘passion’ is universal.
In spite of how really universal Harjo’s work is, she manages to portray also a beautiful, vivid and often painful picture of being a Native American in her Navajo Diné. The lies, betrayals, deceit and continuing racism of the Caucasian population both formed and still imprison the Navajo Nation, the nations of other indigenous Americans and, of course, the individuals within those cultures and nations. And even well-intentioned efforts by less racist modern Americans miss the entire point: it is NOT what can be done for the Native Americans, not about reparations (measured, of course in dollars), not about apologies such as the insulting one adopted by Congress a few years ago. Nor is it about what we can do in consultation and partnership with Native Americans, but about something much more, something irreparable that caused and causes wounds so deep, so painful and so pervasive that they cannot be rectified in any way in any amount of time.
Harjo’s poetry captures all of this.
Aside from its strength of being universal, the poetry also excels in its lack of rancor, bitterness, cynicism or revenge, but at the same time, it also reveals distrust and depression, the impacts of the ongoing genocidal crime, cannot be escaped, probably ever.
This is great poetry, a true demonstration of exactly why people ought to read GOOD poetry and where they will discover poetry that they can come to love.
April 5, 2016
Beautiful, jazz-inflected, wise poetry. As good a place as any to start with Harjo, up there with In Mad Love and War. Check out "We Were There When Jazz Was Invented" for Harjo's smart triangulation of diverse traditions. This quote--one of the interlinears she uses to structure the collection--gives a sense of the arc:
"Those who could see into the future predicted the storm long before the first settler stepped on the shores of the Mvskoke story What was known in both worlds broke. In jazz, a break takes you to the skinned-down bones. You stop for a moment and bop through the opening, then keep playing to the other side of a dark and heavy history."
Play it, sister.
"Those who could see into the future predicted the storm long before the first settler stepped on the shores of the Mvskoke story What was known in both worlds broke. In jazz, a break takes you to the skinned-down bones. You stop for a moment and bop through the opening, then keep playing to the other side of a dark and heavy history."
Play it, sister.
March 23, 2016
So many of these poems I read over and over, savoring the beauty and rightness of Harjo's words. I want these written on my heart so it can beat with truth, humility, and gratitude, always.
June 28, 2023
Joy Harjo deserves rereading: I will return to these fine poems. Thanks, Fulton County Public Library for the loan.
April 13, 2020
I was particularly drawn in by the title; the poem by that name began with the land and turned to the dance of light and massacres of those under a white flag. The contrast of six conflict resolution principles (e.g. to set ground rules) to Harjo's verses to holy beings shows that the tasks at hand demand the whole of the body, land, and music (listen to Harjo's jazz!)
My other favorites in the collection were For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in Its Human Feet ("Watch your mind. Without training it might run away and leave your heart for the immense human feast set by the thieves of time"), Talking With the Sun, From DFW Airport at Dawn, Everybody Has a Heartache, and For a Girl Becoming.
My other favorites in the collection were For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in Its Human Feet ("Watch your mind. Without training it might run away and leave your heart for the immense human feast set by the thieves of time"), Talking With the Sun, From DFW Airport at Dawn, Everybody Has a Heartache, and For a Girl Becoming.
May 19, 2016
It seems a pitiful thing to review words like these that spark like flint on steel. Again and again.
So many lines and phrases sips of the clearest and coldest of revitalizing and refreshing spring water.
Bringing me back to vitality, consciousness and providing camaraderie in a world that runs on madness.
I am beyond grateful.
So many lines and phrases sips of the clearest and coldest of revitalizing and refreshing spring water.
Bringing me back to vitality, consciousness and providing camaraderie in a world that runs on madness.
I am beyond grateful.
January 17, 2019
Poems of hope and rage, of blood and healing, of history and violence. And music, lots of music. Think of jazz riff on saxophone, syncopated like prayer drums, then rising in a mournful wail that gives birth to tears and the blues. Wholly fierce and absorbing. Thank you Joy Harjo.
January 3, 2022
Some really nice poems, but I think the cohesion of the collection wasn't really my favorite--sometimes I felt stretched between places, locations, and images. I'd be interested to read other collections, but this one wasn't really my favorite.
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May 31, 2016"The land is a being who remembers everything." I'm going to carry that line with me for a long, long while.
June 2, 2020
Poetry takes a little bit more time to read than a straight novel had to go over this a couple of time but the words and thoughts are beautifully crafted. I even pulled some of those thoughts (edited) for helping me phrase my reaction to current affairs namely the white house reaction to the George Floyd demonstrations anyway I give this five stars a easy and beautiful read.
Use Effective Communication skills that display and enhance mutual trust and respect:
If you sign this paper we will become brothers. We will no longer fight. We will give you this
land and these waters “as long as the grass shall grow and the rivers run.”
If you send your children to our schools we will train them to get along in this changing world.
We will educate them.
If you put your hand on this bible, this blade, this pen, this gun you will gain trust and respect with us. No we can speak together as one.
Native people say put down your papers, your tools of coercion, your false promises, your posture of superiority the lands and waters you offer to give do not belong to you to give, what was signed was done under false pretenses after drugging by drink, we signed. With mass of gunpowder pointed at us, we signed. With a flotilla of war ships at our shores, we signed. We are still signing. We have found no peace in this act of signing.
The sun rose over the Potomac this morning, over the city surrounding the white house.
It blazed scarlet, a fire opening truth.
White House, or Chogo Hvtke, means the house of the peacekeeper, the keeper of justice.
We have crossed this river to speak to the white leader for peace many times
Everyone nows has a trail of tears and wonder when this is going to end.
Use Effective Communication skills that display and enhance mutual trust and respect:
If you sign this paper we will become brothers. We will no longer fight. We will give you this
land and these waters “as long as the grass shall grow and the rivers run.”
If you send your children to our schools we will train them to get along in this changing world.
We will educate them.
If you put your hand on this bible, this blade, this pen, this gun you will gain trust and respect with us. No we can speak together as one.
Native people say put down your papers, your tools of coercion, your false promises, your posture of superiority the lands and waters you offer to give do not belong to you to give, what was signed was done under false pretenses after drugging by drink, we signed. With mass of gunpowder pointed at us, we signed. With a flotilla of war ships at our shores, we signed. We are still signing. We have found no peace in this act of signing.
The sun rose over the Potomac this morning, over the city surrounding the white house.
It blazed scarlet, a fire opening truth.
White House, or Chogo Hvtke, means the house of the peacekeeper, the keeper of justice.
We have crossed this river to speak to the white leader for peace many times
Everyone nows has a trail of tears and wonder when this is going to end.
September 18, 2016
Harjo, we're told is of Creek heritage, the Amerind peoples originally from the southeast U. S. who were shifted into the Indian Territories almost 200 years ago. She feels those sensibilities keenly. All the poems here give consideration to that point of view. Some of it's anger, some of it merely paying obeisance to where she comes from. She sang some of these poems when I saw her read from the book. Some of the poems have the word song in the title, making it clear music is a part of the effect. And music can be heard in the many poems reflecting a honkytonk perspective, from poems about exhausted and bored Saturday nights when bottles make rings on the tables and underappreciated women worn by overwork and tedium engage in a fitful line dance. I liked those poems very much, as well as the poems expressing love, which can be as transient and hard-edged as the juke joints but also tender. Not all these poems are as gruff as the wind moving the dust in the deserted street while music tinkles in the bar. There are some lovely lyrics here. I liked the book more than I expected.
June 18, 2022
«I am carrying over a thousand names for blue that I didn’t have at dusk.
How will I feed and care for all of them?»
Reading this during a time of grief was truly so comforting. Harjo’s words are truly out of this world — the way she builds images off abstract concepts is mindblowing. This felt like a tight, warm hug that puts the broken pieces of you back together.
How will I feed and care for all of them?»
Reading this during a time of grief was truly so comforting. Harjo’s words are truly out of this world — the way she builds images off abstract concepts is mindblowing. This felt like a tight, warm hug that puts the broken pieces of you back together.
August 30, 2022
Day 17 of The Sealey Challenge, I listened to this one on audio specifically because Harjo reads and sings.
Themes of displacement, Trail of Tears, music history and her beloved saxophone, travel and kinship in Alaska, odes to her grandchildren.
IYKYK Harjo never lets up - outstanding collection.
Themes of displacement, Trail of Tears, music history and her beloved saxophone, travel and kinship in Alaska, odes to her grandchildren.
IYKYK Harjo never lets up - outstanding collection.
November 24, 2023
Harjo’s poetry comes from a place of knowing. It’s an experience just to witness her at her work, through her words.
January 22, 2024
joy harjo never misses
August 19, 2016
In September 2011, I sat alone in a crowded theater in Taos, NM, watching Joy Harjo perform--poetry, music, story. Aside from the indelible picture I have carried in my mind of her since that day, I also carried one of her stories. I can't count the number of people I have told about it. You Can Change the Story, My Spirit Said to Me as I Sat Near the Sea is that story and I had no idea it was in this book until I read through the first 99 pages and came upon it last night. And then I reached page 127… another story that had haunted me from that night. They are not the only words that will stick with you when you read this book. She gives voice to so much that there are sure to be words you didn't know you'd been searching for, that illuminate things we could not fully see until the moment we read them from her pages, that will fill you with joy, regret, sorrow, shame, love, and music.
"I confided in him the longing I was afraid to name. I told him I wrote to leave a trail so that love can find us. I told him that poetry is lonely without the music. I wanted to tell him everything, the way you do when your meet the one who's going to open all the doors in your heart."
"I confided in him the longing I was afraid to name. I told him I wrote to leave a trail so that love can find us. I told him that poetry is lonely without the music. I wanted to tell him everything, the way you do when your meet the one who's going to open all the doors in your heart."
March 20, 2022
I studied the titular poem as part of a poetry lab I took with Columbia University's International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution and their artist in residence Pádraig Ó Tuama. It was wonderful to analyze Poet Laureate Joy Harjo's words in the context of poetry as the lens and source of reconciliation and conflict resolution. That work combined the elements of human rules with the reminder that nature also has its rules.
Prompted by the study of that poem, I listened to Harjo's full collection on the topic spoken in her own voice. Her rhythm and musicality is rooted in indigenous character; her message steeped in indigenous wisdom and admonition.
Favorite selections include: For a Girl Becoming, Cricket Song, No, and For Calling the Spirit Back from the Earth in Its Human Feet.
Prompted by the study of that poem, I listened to Harjo's full collection on the topic spoken in her own voice. Her rhythm and musicality is rooted in indigenous character; her message steeped in indigenous wisdom and admonition.
Favorite selections include: For a Girl Becoming, Cricket Song, No, and For Calling the Spirit Back from the Earth in Its Human Feet.
January 27, 2018
Fantastic collection. Harjo has short one or two sentence introductions to the poems that are often little poems in themselves. There is a heavy jazz and musical influence and many of the poems are called songs or have singing in them. I've never been especially interested in reading Harjo's memoir but after this collection it is definitely on my list!
May 3, 2020
Really, just breathtaking poems for every occasion of life. Several poems in this collection were so beautiful that they made me cry, so good they demanded that I put the book down not to read one more word before I had spent time sitting with just that poem for a while. This is a miraculous collection of poems — one of my favorite in years. What a gift.
July 19, 2021
Read this (listened, actually) a little bit at a time to digest slowly. There is no other voice like Harjo's; her work is quirky and profound and generous. Reading Harjo is like being gathered up into her dreams, hearing her soul music, and meeting her ancestors. This book is a gift. And honestly, that title is FIRE.
January 26, 2022
Harjo's collection Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings is a beautiful blend of traditional Native values and practices, contemporary struggles of traveling musicians, and timeless, universal experiences of family and nature. Engaging with these poems audibly as read by the poet herself was a great experience and I would recommend the audio version to anyone interested in Harjo's work.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 400 reviews