Catching the Light Catching the Light
Why I Write

Catching the Light

    • 5.0 • 1 Rating
    • $17.99

Publisher Description

United States Poet Laureate and winner of the 2022 Academy of American Poets Leadership Award Joy Harjo examines the power of words and how poetry summons us toward justice and healing


“Her enduring message—that writing can be redemptive—resonates: ‘To write is to make a mark in the world, to assert “I am.”’ The result is a rousing testament to the power of storytelling.”—Publishers Weekly


“Harjo writes as if the creative journey has been the destination all along.”—Kirkus Reviews


In this lyrical meditation about the why of writing poetry, Joy Harjo reflects on significant points of illumination, experience, and questioning from her fifty years as a poet. Comprised of intimate vignettes that take us through the author’s life journey as a youth in the late 1960s, a single mother, and a champion of Native nations, this book offers a fresh understanding of how poetry functions as an expression of purpose, spirit, community, and memory.


Harjo insists the most meaningful poetry is birthed through cracks in history from what is broken and unseen. At the crossroads of this brokenness, she calls us to watch and listen for the songs of justice for all those America has denied. This is an homage to the power of words to defy erasure—to inscribe the story, again and again, of who we have been, who we are, and who we can be.

GENRE
Fiction & Literature
RELEASED
2022
October 4
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
128
Pages
PUBLISHER
Yale University Press
SELLER
Yale University
SIZE
474.8
KB
Soul Talk, Song Language Soul Talk, Song Language
2011
Paperwork Paperwork
2013
The Spiral of Memory The Spiral of Memory
2021
The Essays The Essays
2015
New Weathers: Poetics from the Naropa Archive New Weathers: Poetics from the Naropa Archive
2022
Out of Violence into Poetry Out of Violence into Poetry
2021
Crazy Brave: A Memoir Crazy Brave: A Memoir
2012
When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry
2020
An American Sunrise: Poems An American Sunrise: Poems
2019
Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings: Poems Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings: Poems
2015
Poet Warrior: A Memoir Poet Warrior: A Memoir
2021
She Had Some Horses: Poems She Had Some Horses: Poems
2008
Devotion Devotion
2017
Inadvertent Inadvertent
2018
For Now For Now
2020
Of Solids and Surds Of Solids and Surds
2021
The House of Being The House of Being
2024
What Nails It What Nails It
2024