Living Nations, Living Words (ed. Joy Harjo)
Living Nations, Living Worlds
An Anthology of First Peoples Poetry
Collected by Joy Harjo, 23rd U.S. Poet Laureate
I didn’t know until the last few years that the Poet Laureate was actually selected by the Library of Congress. Seems like a much better selection process than having politicians decide these things (as happens in Oregon as far as I can tell).
I mention this, in part, in case anyone was wondering how the first Native Poet Laureate was appointed during the Trump presidency.
This collection of poetry is a book form of a project that Joy pursued mapping Native poets from across the country.
I always think of anthologies like this as a way of discovering new voices first and foremost, and so I will provide below a list of links to more information about my favorite newly discovered poets from this collection.
Louise Erdrich (I was already familiar with Louise’s novel-writing but discovered here that she also was a poet)
Natalie Diaz (I have had a hold on her book Post-Colonial Love Poem at the library for a few months)