An American Sunrise cover art

An American Sunrise

Poems

 Preview
Free with 30-day trial
A 30-day trial plus your first audiobook free.
1 credit/month after trial—to buy any title you like, yours to keep.
Listen all you want to a selection of thousands of Audible Originals, audiobooks and podcasts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.

An American Sunrise

By: Joy Harjo
Narrated by: Joy Harjo
Free with 30-day trial

Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $12.99

Buy Now for $12.99

About this listen

A stunning new volume from the first Native American Poet Laureate of the United States, informed by her tribal history and connection to the land.

In the early 1800s, the Mvskoke people were forcibly removed from their original lands east of the Mississippi to Indian Territory, which is now part of Oklahoma. Two hundred years later, Joy Harjo returns to her family’s lands and opens a dialogue with history. In An American Sunrise, Harjo finds blessings in the abundance of her homeland and confronts the site where her people, and other indigenous families, essentially disappeared. From her memory of her mother’s death, to her beginnings in the native rights movement, to the fresh road with her beloved, Harjo’s personal life intertwines with tribal histories to create a space for renewed beginnings. Her poems sing of beauty and survival, illuminating a spirituality that connects her to her ancestors and thrums with the quiet anger of living in the ruins of injustice. A descendent of storytellers and “one of our finest - and most complicated - poets” (Los Angeles Review of Books), Joy Harjo continues her legacy with this latest powerful collection.

©2019 Joy Harjo (P)2019 Blackstone Publishing Poetry United States World Literature Native American
All stars
Most relevant  
Beautifully read by Joy Harjo. Hearing her read added an extra dimension to her poetry.

Beautiful Poetry

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
beautiful poetry, thought-provoking, wise and wonderfully read. I'll be coming back again and again to my favourite poems.

love it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.