How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems 1975-2001

Over a quarter-century's work from the 2003 winner of the Arrell Gibson Award for Lifetime Achievement.

This collection gathers poems from throughout Joy Harjo's twenty-eight-year career, beginning in 1973 in the age marked by the takeover at Wounded Knee and the rejuvenation of indigenous cultures in the world through poetry and music. How We Became Human explores its title question in poems of sustaining grace.

Customer Reviews:

A hestitant five stars for an excellent poet

By M. J. Smith - August 2, 2002

I have followed Harjo's poetry (and recorded music) for many years, ever since I saw her on PBS reading from "She Had Some Horses". This volume contains selections from her available books: "She Had Some Horses", "Secrets from the Center of the World", "In Mad Love and War", "The Woman Who Fell from the Sky" and "A Map to the Next World". As is frequently the case, the selections for this book are not precisely the poems I would have chosen. It does include the most powerful poems, for example "She Had Some Horses" with it's pounding litany rhythms, "Letter from the End of the Twentieth Century" which is the title track of her cd, "The Creation Story" with its exquisite line "I never had the words / to carry a friend from her death / to the stars / correctly." Somewhat to my surprise, the poems from Secrets from the Center of the World which fit the photographs so precisely in their original context, also succeed as poetry only in this volume (although I'd still recommend the... read more

Beautiful, striking

By beatle bee - August 22, 2011

I love this collection I purchased for a poetry workshop class. Being introduced to Harjo can be a difficult assimilation, but this text represents a great selection to newcomers of her work. Absolutely beautiful, striking, natural, and human poetry is the best way I can describe her work.