In Henry’s longer poem “River People—The Long Watch,” which operates on the stem, “When we were river people,” the poet offers a sort of nostalic history for the way his people were when they might have been seen as “spiritual and mythic.” The poem takes dramatic turns from the appreciation of nature to the want and need that come of circumstance and social-constructs. The connection back to Harjo’s piece is found in the final lines of Henry’s piece:

Crow knew just like you know now/a stone is no place for a watch/as you know what we call time/can’t be made up with words/lost, or remembered,or held down/

to earth,/ or be left behind/ by blessings, forgotten, or be any more/than a relative of light, who returns home,/as bright clear sun reporting all/that has gone between rising and falling.

In Harjo and Henry’s poems, this idea of teh “relative of light” calls to mind imagery from INVISIBLE SON that helps the reader to appreciate what…and who is illuminated when we come out into the sunlight and are both revealed and revered.

https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/afc/afc2020004/afc2020004_15/afc2020004_15_ms01.pdf

I made a connection between this poem and “like any good indian woman” by Tanaya Wilder, who also talks about the struggles of Natives and their lack of recognition in the US. https://www.loc.gov/item/2020785246/

Paschen’s poem speaks to the history of the native population and the struggles they have gone through. Paschen speaks of the struggles from the times of her mother and great grandmother just as Harjo speaks of the longing for justice even after forty years.

https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/afc/afc2020004/afc2020004_12/afc2020004_12_ms01.pdf

In Alex Jacob’s “Trudell,” he explains how he needs to be strong for his people and those around him. At the same time though, he’s scared of what more horrible things could happen to his people or his family. Near the end of his poem, he criticizes society for never thinking history can be repeated or simply only caring about the money they can collect from reservation’s casinos. He wants to see history for indigenous people change, which is where Harjo’s poem comes in. At the end of her poem, she states, “forty years later and we still want justice.” The connection between the two poems proves a strong point that indigenous people are seeking for more rights and better lives but society holds them back.
https://www.loc.gov/item/2020785201/

Layli Long Soldier writes about the “justice” her people were given in her poem Resolution 2. A resolution was written to Native Americans during president Obama’s administration in an attempt to fix all the injustices the Native Americans received. Solider’s poem uses words from Congress’s resolution to describe her feeling about this so called “justice”.

https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/afc/afc2020004/afc2020004_29/afc2020004_29_ms02.pdf

Mahealani Perez-Wendt connects with “American Sunrise” because it is said that her poems are known for cultural sovereignty and offers a style that centers itself at a crossroads of struggle. This sentence I choose to compare it to suggests that they had to maintain and put a stop to their ancestors fights. They faced many struggles and crossroads while doing so, just like the Perez-Wendt’s poems covered. With her poems being available to people it is showing them tough times they have faced and what might be up ahead for others to keep fighting for. It shows that life is really not all that easy for them because they are fighting their ancestors’ fights. There are stories told by her from her struggles and accomplishments in her hometown.
https://loc.gov/item/2020785235/

https://arthurmag.com/2010/08/04/a-poem-from-henry-real-bird/

Jennifer Elise Forester is featured on Joy Harjo digital map, a brief introduction reveals her people of Muscogee creek were part of the trail of tears. In Harjo’s poem “An American Sunrise” we can pull the phrase “our ancestors fights” this is a link between Harjo and Forester. Harjo calls attention to the fights many Native ancestors went through as a way to fill the gap.

Link
https://loc.gov/item/2020785221/

Reading through “An American Sunrise” there was one line that stood out to me the most and that was, “We are still America.” This line makes me feel as though she knows that long ago her “kind” were not too excited to be living in “America”. I tied this to a piece by Elise Paschen, “Heritage”, and saw that she too says something along those lines. She talks about the white men killing Osage women and how “Indians were tied to the U.S.” This connect brings me back to history class when we learned about the trail of tears and other horrific events where the Indians were targeted. I feel like more in “An American Sunrise” the author pretty much says that they have been through a lot and things have been hard along the way but they are still here and they are going to stay here. This is their America too. https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/afc/afc2020004/afc2020004_12/afc2020004_12_ms01.pdf

I made a connection between this poem and the poem “Off-Island CHamorus” by Craig Santos-Perez. The two poems both mention their ancestors and the fights/war they are in. These two poems both go to show what one goes through in their life and how it is not always easy.
https://www.loc.gov/item/2020785208/

There is a connection between this poem and a poem by Linda Hogan called “Trail of Tears: Our Removal.” Hogan is a member of the Chickasaw tribe. Her poem is about her ancestors experience on the Trail of Tears. I found a connection between these two poems because they both deal with facing the overall same struggle, but are being faced in different ways. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57881/trail-of-tears-our-removal

After reading “An American Sunrise” by Joy Harjo I made a connection with the poem “How to Write the Great American Indian Novel” by Sherman Alexie. In both of these poems the authors brought up Indian heritage. For instance, In Joy Harjo’s poem she talks about the struggles the Native Americans have had throughout American history and in Sherman Alexie’s poem he describes and illustrates how a Native American is stereotyped in America. Altogether, both of these poems express how Native Americans have had to face and overcome diversity in America.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52775/how-to-write-the-great-american-indian-novel

When looking through the map a few people caught my eye that could be directly connected back to Joy Harjo. However, Jennifer Elise Foerster stuck out to me the most. At first glance of her on the map I saw that she was a part of the Muscogee Creek tribe which is also the one that Joy mentions she is a part of in the pbs article. Jennifer wrote a poem called “NotesFrom Coosa” this poem getting its name from a story about tie-snakes that used to be told when she was growing up. I made many connections between Joy and Jennifer but the main was how their poetry reflected the passion they had for their “people”. Native americas have a different kind of culture and these two women have done a great job using poetry to expression important it is that the Native American culture stays alive. https://www.loc.gov/resource/afc2020004.afc2020004_21_ph01/

In Joy Harjo’s poem “American Sunrise,” I get the vibe that she is fighting to keep her Native American identity. She is in a minority group living in a world that ignores the issues that occur on the reservations in which these people were forced to move to. Mark Turcotte begins his poem with the line “Back when I used to be Indian,” like he has already lost that identity.
https://poets.org/poem/burn

Tiffany Midge’s poem, “Antiquing with Indians,” has an ironic tone, as if making fun of the Native American branding of items. Companies and sellers have appropriated indigenous people, trying to describe their products using brand names related to their culture. Many brand names have changed and have been “retired,” though. This can be connected to Joy Harjo’s “An American Sunrise.” Towards the end of the poem, she wrote, “We know the rumors of our demise. We spit them out. They die soon.” The brands representing rumors of their culture were soon brought down from the shelves and renamed, or possibly retired. The company died out.https://www.loc.gov/item/2020785247/

The poet I selected for my general comment was Alex Jacobs, a Mohawk visual artist, spoken word poet, and freelance writer that resides in New York. Before living in New York, he lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico for 27 years and continues to visit there to work on art and attend Indian art markets. The poem he read for the Living Nations, Living Worlds project was “Trudell.” This poem is a list poem in essence. Alex lists his own fears in the beginning, and they all involve his identity, something so basic and important. Without identity, people can become invisible. But he remarks that despite his own fears he is strong. Strong for his people, who all may be facing their own conflicts and issues in incredibly dire ways. He wants to be strong for those who struggle with their own identities and lives. He is strong because someone has to be strong for them, where much of society has not been. He refuses to lose his own identity and is strong for others no matter how gripping his own fears are.

This is in harmony with Joy Harjo’s message that indigenous people are still America, and they will not falter to rumors of demise. They will be strong for each other, and no identities will be lost to the fray.
https://www.loc.gov/item/2020785201/

While scanning through the Living Nations, Living Words map I connected many authors back to Joy Harjo. But one really stuck out to me, Jennifer Elise Foerster. the first connection I made was that they are both part of Muscogee Tribe. But their poems have similarities as well. In Jennifer Elise Foerster’s poem, she explains how her Native American culture is very important and needs importance brought to it. Joy Harjo’s poem discusses similar things as well. Both the authors also talk about how they are both America citizens and Native American citizens and both their cultures matter. They show through their poems that all culture matter and deserve to be honor with importance.
https://www.loc.gov/resource/afc2020004.afc2020004_21_ph01/

After reading “An American Sunrise” I made a connection the poem “Home and Homeless” by Elizabeth Woody. Woody is a member of the Confederate Tribe of Warm Springs in Oregon. Woody’s poetry reflects her close ties with her family, the natural world, and her people, a group she portrays with humanity and sympathy, just like Joy Harjo.

In the poem “Home and the Homeless” Woody describes through imagery, three different types of unwanted change; change with the people on the reservation, change in the culture on the reservation, and her own personal change.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53418/home-and-the-homeless

Both poems begin by displaying a sense of sadness. Joy Harjo’s sadness sticks with me until the last few lines, where she speaks of destroying the rumors surrounding these people. When this happens, I sense determination and readiness to make a change. In "Antiquing With Indians’ however, I can sense this determination right off the bat. After reading both of these poems, it is quite obvious that a serious change needs to be made. Credit needs to be given where credit is due. It is ridiculous to act as if they are below others when there are actions figures, costumes, characters, etc. portraying them as if we do not treat them poorly. Their lives cannot be used for others’ personal gain. We have to respect them and stop the selfishness. These poets wants justice, change, and respect. Their poets sends this message very clearly.

After reading “Welcome Home Living Beings,” by Suzan Shown Harjo, I made a huge connection between it and “An American Sunrise”. If we read American Sunrise, we see repetition throughout the piece, just as Joy Harjo used repetition throughout her own. Typically, we see repetition when the author wants us to think about or recognize something in the piece. With Joy Harjo’s piece, we can see the repeated word, “we”. I think she’s using this to show it’s not only her narrative as an indeginous woman, it’s all indeginous people that aren’t being heard or treated properly. And we see a different kind of repetition scheme In Suzan Shown Harjo’s poem. There are entire stanzas where she repeats words or phrases. I think she’s doing this for a similar reason to Joy Harjo, to show that it is not one person that is perceived as this, it is an entire group of people.

And I see a connection between the themes of the poems. Joy Harjo is talking about the struggles of being an indeginous person. The history of her ancestors and war, while being assimilated to the ways of the white Europeans that were taking over the land. How she still felt a deep connection to her roots even though it has been frowned upon for so long. And Suzan Shown Harjo wrote about the roots of the indeginous people. How they are still hurting from the past and how they need to express their culture.

https://www.loc.gov/item/2020785244/

I made a connection between these poems they both seem to pull on and somewhat define what it means to be native in terms of connotations in history. The line “we were the heathens” in An American Sunrise, seem to run parallel to the line “We are but nomads asking for nothing But the blessings upon our Mother Earth.” in Thought.

https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/afc/afc2020004/afc2020004_18/afc2020004_18_ms01.pdf

I made the connection between Joy Harjo and Jennifer Foerster. They are both from the same people (Muscogee). So, it’d be interesting as a reader to see similarities and differences in their works.

https://www.loc.gov/ghe/cascade/index.html?appid=be31c5cfc7614d6680e6fa47be888dc3&bookmark=Map

As I was scanning the map, I found myself selecting poets whose names appear closer to Indiana and ignoring the rest. The only reason I have for this method is maybe I was hoping to feel a sense of pride in the fact that Joy Harjo thought a poet from Indiana was worthy of being mentioned on her map. However, I ended up selecting Elizabeth Woody. Whose name pops up over by Washington and Oregon. Elizabeth Woody’s poems take inspiration from her family, the natural world, and her people. She is enrolled in the Confederate Tribes of Warm Springs Oregon and is a Navajo/Warm Springs/Wasco/Yakamaan.

While both Joy Harjo and Elizabeth Woody speak about their people and their culture. Joy Harjo explores feminism, politics; whereas, Elizabeth Woody speaks more towards sharing her culture and bringing awareness to their people’s history. Both poets speak on how their people have been impacted by recent and past events. However, it seems like Joy Harjo takes a more direct approach compared to Eliazbeth Woody. In the poem “The Girlfriends,” Elizabeth Woody references nature multiple times and hints back towards her culture. Personally, I feel like this has a different connection to Joy Harjo’s poem “An American Sunrise.” In “An American Sunrise,” Joy Harjo seems to compare her culture to that of the white settlers. It is subtle compared to Woody’s poem, but Joy Harjo does seem to talk elaborate upon her culture. The same happens in “The Girlfriends.” In Elizabeth Woody’s poem she talks about nature and how her culture respects nature and all it has to offer. Where Joy Harjo’s poem lashes out towards the white settlers’ culture, Elizabeth Woody’s poem offers reasoning behind Joy Harjo’s emotions.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53419/girlfriends
(a link to the poem “The Girlfriends”)

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/elizabeth-woody
(Poetry Foundation overview of Elizabeth Woody)

The connection I found was with poet Ofelia Zepeda
and her poem “It Is Going To Rain.” The connection was fairly easy and it is to the comment I posted above. In that comment I referenced stanza 6 talking about how people sweep things under the rug. Poet Ofelia Zepeda challenges this by explaining that there are always signs that the rug has something underneath. You won’t be able to hid under the rug forever.

https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/afc/afc2020004/afc2020004_40/afc2020004_40_ms01.pdf

This poem reminds me of a poem i once read by Natalie Diaz named It Was The Animals which is about being raised Christian as a native person and how that makes her question her identity. It relates back to this poem where Christians are seen as the “enemy” more or less

I found my connection to Joy Harjo’s “American Sunrise” in “Welcome Home Living Beings” by Susan Shown Harjo. When reading Joy Harjo’s poem i was drawn to the line:
We/were heathens, but needed to be saved from the- thin/chance.
In history we are told of how early settlers tried to “save” the natives, but they only needed to be saved from the settlers themselves. And I found similar themes in Susan Harjo’s poem.
The line in particular that struck me was:
Yesterday, they were alone, many generations ago/Today, we welcomed home beloved Living Beings.
As is the case of many times throughout history when a people were treated with cruelty they were not seen as people. Natives were “savages” and were put in camps to save the man inside the “savage.” Both poems express the idea of being saved and being seen as savages or heathens rather than man, a living being.
https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/afc/afc2020004/afc2020004_44/afc2020004_44_ms01.pdf
(Link to “Welcome Home Living Beings”)

In the ther little insert from “Living Nations, Livining Words” it mentioned that while this project was being created William had asked, “what does ‘place’ mean? Is it where we start? Where we end?” In his most recent poem ‘On the Backs of American Bison’ he mentions that the American people killed all of the bison causing him to find a new home and would steal the woves’ food while they weren’t looking. He ended the poem with " we have to survive somehow." Similar to “An American Sunrise” Joy Harjo felt as if the white settlers invaded their space and needed to be saved from them.
https://poets.org/poem/backs-american-bison

In Susan Harjo’s work, “Welcoming Home Living Beings,” the author writes about welcoming the past and present. She invites home Native Americans’ history, occupations, and tomorrows. With everything they and their ancestors have gone through, Harjo reclaims it all and focuses the energy into the future.

In our work from today, poet Joy Harjo writes about fellow Natives as “still America.” In the last few lines of the work, our writer conveys the message that she and others will fight for the justice of their people.

These two works go hand in hand due to their bol manner. Susan Harjo’s piece references the Native American past and how she is reclaiming their history while Joy Harjo’s writing is more reminiscent on the tragedies themselves. The two together blend strong narratives with hope to create the resilience that keeps them pushing through.

Link to Susan Shown Harjo: https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/afc/afc2020004/afc2020004_44/afc2020004_44_ms01.pdf

with no more oppression.
https://www.loc.gov/item/2020785232/

I made a connection to the poem “The River People – The Lost Watch” by Gordon Henry Jr. Both poems emphasize the heritage of the native americans. https://www.loc.gov/item/2020785215/