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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 | Joy Harjo
21 posts | 9 read | 1 reading | 28 to read
United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo gathers the work of more than 160 poets, representing nearly 100 indigenous nations, into the first historically comprehensive Native poetry anthology. This landmark anthology celebrates the indigenous peoples of North America, the first poets of this country, whose literary traditions stretch back centuries. Opening with a blessing from Pulitzer Prizewinner N. Scott Momaday, the book contains powerful introductions from contributing editors who represent the five geographically organized sections. Each section begins with a poem from traditional oral literatures and closes with emerging poets, ranging from Eleazar, a seventeenth-century Native student at Harvard, to Jake Skeets, a young Din poet born in 1991, and including renowned writers such as Luci Tapahanso, Natalie Diaz, Layli Long Soldier, and Ray Young Bear. When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through offers the extraordinary sweep of Native literature, without which no study of American poetry is complete.
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BC_Dittemore
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Pickpick

Been working through these the past couple months between books or whenever I only have a few minutes here and there. Not going to have them finished before they need to be returned to the library (probably gonna buy my own copies) but I did want to point out how wonderful they are.

Hirsch adds new life to old standards with helpful insights and analyses. Harjo‘s book, with its focus on Native poetry, is sublime and should be read by everyone.

MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm I‘m not typically a poetry reader despite my various attempts to enjoy the genre. But this has me very intrigued. Stacked! 4mo
BC_Dittemore @MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm awesome! Hope you like it! 4mo
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IndoorDame
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#FridayNightShare This is the first (as of yet, only) Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry. I spent a good chunk of February reading this and it introduced me to SO many poets whose individual collections I‘m excited to read. #midwintersolace #naturalitsy @AllDebooks @TheBookHippie @Chrissyreadit @jenniferw88

AllDebooks I love the sound of this anthology 📚 4mo
IndoorDame @AllDebooks my favorite thing about it was that it was organized by region (based loosely on old tribal boundaries), with 4 editors, each a Native poet from that region, and I found that the writing from regions I‘d actually lived in spoke to me more deeply 4mo
Chrissyreadit I was just double checking all the Friday night shares and saw you have 9 stacked for this book! I‘ve been counting the stacks Sunday or Monday so clearly if i had waited a couple days you are the winner- so i am sending you a small prize also. Can you email me your address? chrissyreadit@gmail.com 3mo
IndoorDame @Chrissyreadit that‘s so sweet of you! emailing you now ♥️ 3mo
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vonnie862
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vonnie862
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IndoorDame
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I finished 1 of my month-long reads today. The first Norton Anthology of Native Nations poetry features 161 poets spanning from hundreds of years ago to the present, most of whom I would be interested in reading more work from. This is separated into 4 geographical regions following pre-state boundaries, and I was surprised to see how much more I connected with the poetry of regions I‘d lived in. #Pantone2023 #AiryBlue #Sharreadathon #20in4

DivineDiana This sounds wonderful! 1y
IndoorDame @DivineDiana it is! I went and borrowed a library copy when my digital Libby copy was due back, and now that my library copy is due back I‘ve ordered one of my own 1y
DivineDiana That is quite an endorsement! Stacked! 1y
Andrew65 That‘s brilliant, well done 👏👏👏 1y
Clwojick Brilliant! 💖🎉 1y
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IndoorDame
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TheSpineView Great poem! So sad though. 1y
Suet624 Harjo always makes me cry. 💕 1y
SamAnne I love Harjo. 1y
dabbe Wow. What a powerful message about how to live. ❣️ 1y
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IndoorDame
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#WeirdWords @CBee

Kugelblitz is used to mean ball lightning.

It‘s actually a theoretical astrophysical object predicted by general relativity. It‘s a concentration of heat, light or radiation so intense that its energy forms an event horizon & becomes self-trapped. In other words, if enough radiation is aimed into a region of space, the concentration of energy can warp spacetime so much that it creates a black hole.

Suet624 Wow! 1y
IndoorDame @Suet624 German has words for so many things English is just unspecific about! 1y
CBee Definitely not something I‘ve heard of! My husband probably knows what this is (maybe) - he still speaks some German so I‘ll have to ask him! 1y
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IndoorDame @CBee I hadn‘t heard of it either! I find lately when I hit French I can sort of guess what it might be, but when I hit German I just have to look it up. 1y
CBee @IndoorDame German is the weirdest language 😂 I‘ll ask him the word for something simple and he‘ll throw a multisyllabic word at me that sounds absolutely nothing like the English word 😂 1y
julesG @IndoorDame So not true. There are a lot of pretty precise words in English that need several words or a multisyllabic noun in German. 1y
julesG The fear of Kugelblitz is the reason my grandmother taught me to close all doors and windows when there's a thunderstorm and unplug all the appliances. 🙄 1y
IndoorDame @julesG so cool that your grandma taught you that! It‘s not a superstition I‘ve encountered before so I love hearing about it! And yes, I‘m not surprised that the reverse is true as well with the language. I don‘t know German so I haven‘t encountered those words, (I‘ve encountered lots of the others in translations), but I‘m not surprised to hear that they‘re there. Thank you for pointing that out to me. 1y
dabbe New one for me. Thanks! 🤗 1y
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IndoorDame
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It‘s a coincidence that I‘m reading this while #AAM focuses on Louise Erdrich, and that she‘s one of the poets featured here. But reading her poems, a novel and a children‘s book of hers in a single month has reminded me how talented she is. It‘s rare enough to find an author who writes novels in multiple genres, but to find one who writes in so many different formats (she writes short stories too), and does all of them well, is almost unheard of.

Soubhiville That‘s great! 1y
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IndoorDame
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Eggs Enjoyed this one! 1y
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Lesliereads
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“We did not have organized religion per se; rather the whole earth is a sacred site. A poem can be considered a sacred site, in which so much of our culture is stored, made into form to be acknowledged, given a place, even a place to hide. Many of our oldest and most traditional poems and songs contain maps of the stars, road maps, or precepts of spiritual knowledge.” - from the Introduction
#nativenationspoetry #nativeamericanpoetry #indigenous

monalyisha Ohhh, it‘s gorgeous! 😍 If the rest of it‘s even half as lovely, it sounds like you‘re in for a treat! 2y
Suet624 ❤️❤️❤️ Harjo 2y
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silentrequiem
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I felt the need for some poetry and picked up some new books during Book Outlet's B2G1 sale. All except for Daley-Ward and Harjo are new-to-me.

TrishB Great mix there 👍🏻 3y
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Suelizbeth
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This anthology of Indigenous poets is not exhaustive, but instead, gives us a sampling based on five (5) geographical regions, and then older to newer poets. It gives a way into a large body of work. I had many favorites and enjoyed the visits to each region. I happened to read it straight through, but there is no “correct” way to experience an anthology. It is a wonderful journey. Come along. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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ReadingEnvy
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Chris and Emily of the Book Cougars join me for part 1 of our joint readalong. I also recorded the group discussion some of the Reading Envy Readers had, so I've included the majority of that discussion as well. It makes the episode slightly longer than usual, but I figure if you were in on discussing this amazing anthology, you'd likely be in for both discussions.

Listen and subscribe:
https://tinyurl.com/ReadingEnvy221

Ruthiella Your podcast could be twice as long, I‘d still listen! 😃 3y
ReadingEnvy @Ruthiella thank you... I have at times received quite the opposite feedback 🤷🕺😂 3y
Lindy Jenny, you mentioned a couple of Indigenous readers doing year-long projects. Daniel and Aaron? Erin? Where on social media should I look for them? 3y
ReadingEnvy @Lindy In Instagram, look for the account called erinanddanisbookclub. It will also link to them individually. 3y
Lindy @ReadingEnvy Thanks! 3y
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GingerAntics
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This is a great collection of indigenous tribes from all across the modern United States. These poems deal with everything from creation stories to everyday life and Indian boarding schools. The inclusion of people‘s from modern day Alaska and Hawaii was really cool. I also liked that they included LGBTQIA voices from within their communities. There was even one poem dedicated to “Native American two-spirit-identified” (non binary) people.

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GingerAntics
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GingerAntics
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This is a far more accurate version of this song. We should teach children this version, sit proudly where they sing these truths, and just maybe things will get a little better.
#JoyHarjo #WhenTheLightOfTheWorldWasSubduedOurSongsCameThrough #Poetry #IndigenousVoices @CBee

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GingerAntics
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I didn‘t notice before that this is a Norton Anthology. This bad boy is going to keep me in poetry for quite a while.
#JoyHarjo #WhenTheLightOfTheWorldWasSubduedOurSongsCameThrough #Poetry #IndigenousVoices

TheBookHippie 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼🤍🤍🤍 3y
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Thndrstd
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Edited by U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, this Norton anthology of Native Nations poetry is long overdue but a masterpiece. More than 160 poets from more than 100 different indigenous nations are represented. At times heartbreaking and infuriating, the poems do not shy away from the historical treatment of native peoples but find hope & affirmation. Highly recommended.

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GingerAntics
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I got these two poetry collections as part of my 2021 reading of (and about) indigenous peoples.
#integrateyourshelf #JoyHarjo #NatalieDiaz #poetry #Joetry2021

ChasingOm Those look awesome! 3y
GingerAntics @CBee check out that last hashtag!!! It‘s the first official Joetry 2021 post!!! 🤣😂🤣 3y
CBee @GingerAntics oh my gosh!! You legit used it!! I am seriously so flattered 😁😁😁 3y
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GingerAntics @CBee it was perfect! Way more concise than what I had. 3y
TheBookHippie Stacked ! 3y
Emilymdxn These look so awesome! Stacking 3y
CBee @GingerAntics so awesome 👏🏻👏🏻 3y
GingerAntics @Emilymdxn someone on Litsy read When My Brother Was an Aztec and gave it good reviews. I forget who now. When the Light of the World Was Subdued came from Oprah‘s list. 3y
GingerAntics @TheBookHippie it‘s looks fun, doesn‘t?! I‘ve got high hopes. 3y
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Thndrstd
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Look what came in the mail today.

#Bookmail is the best mail.

Thanks, Bookshop

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Thndrstd
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Just heard about this book and it‘s out today. #excited

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52247906

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