Dear Friend,
If it’s the first of the month, that means it’s time for us to begin a new title in our contemplative reading journey! Today, we turn our attention to Joy Harjo’s Crazy Brave.
My brief introduction to this book leads me to believe it incorporates prose and poetry, and in that way might be similar to books we’ve read by Mary Oliver and Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, for example. Where this one might differ is in its inclusion of tribal myth and music. I’m excited to see how Harjo’s memoir incorporates such a rich tapestry of experiences.
Publisher’s description: In this transcendent memoir, grounded in tribal myth and ancestry, music and poetry, Joy Harjo details her journey to becoming a poet. Born in Oklahoma, the end place of the Trail of Tears, Harjo grew up learning to dodge an abusive stepfather by finding shelter in her imagination, a deep spiritual life, and connection with the natural world. Narrating the complexities of betrayal and love, Crazy Brave is a haunting, visionary memoir about family and the breaking apart necessary in finding a voice.
About the author: Joy Harjo is an internationally renowned performer and writer of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. She served three terms as the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States from 2019-2022 and is winner of Yale’s 2023 Bollingen Prize for American Poetry. The author of ten books of poetry, including the highly acclaimed, Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light: Fifty Poems for Fifty Years, several plays and children’s books, and two memoirs, Crazy Brave and Poet Warrior, her many honors include the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, the Ruth Lily Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the Poetry Foundation, the Academy of American Poets Wallace Stevens Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. (Joy Harjo)
Why Contemplative Reading?
Contemplative reading asks us not just what we’re learning about the book in our hands (or ears), but what we’re learning about ourselves through the experience of reading it. The aim is to create deeper awareness of ourselves and understanding of others. It is often described as “holistic,” but also as “heart-knowing.”
Heart-knowing. Doesn’t that sound nice?
The Plan
This book is organized into four distinct parts, so I will divide my reading and responses into four sessions. Specifically, my posting schedule will look like this:
- May 8: Response to “East” (15-53)
- May 15: Response to “North” (55-108)
- May 22: Response to “West” (109-132)
- May 29: Response to “South” (133-165)
As always, I don’t plan on doing any other research, since this is not a study but a contemplation.
Reading & Responding
Each set of reading will guide my responses here on the blog and on social media. I might sometimes share the most provocative line or passage, and what it makes me think about. Other times, I might ask questions about the reading, things I’m wondering about or confused about. And still further, I might compare what I’m reading to what it reminds me of from other readings or experiences. I don’t want to give too much guidance about how to read, except to say, read attentively, read slowly, and listen to yourself. What thoughts and feelings arise as you’re reading? Write them down and give yourself some moments to reflect on why you’re thinking what you’re thinking, or why you’re feeling what you’re feeling.
I will also be interacting on social media and may share micro-thoughts and favorite quotes or reactions on Instagram, Threads, TikTok, and Facebook. I encourage you to join these conversations or leave your thoughts in the blog comments. On social media, please use #theCRPblog.
Meditation
“When I began to listen to poetry, it’s when I began to listen to the stones, and I began to listen to what the clouds had to say, and I began to listen to others. And I think, most importantly for all of us, then you begin to learn to listen to the soul, the soul of yourself in here, which is also the soul of everyone else.” -Joy Harjo
With love,
~Adam
Contemplative Reading Project 
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