for keeps joy harjo analysis for keeps joy harjo analysis

I link my legs to yours and we ride together, Still, there are enough signifiers of a larger storya contemporary scene in a bar, the Mvskoke adoption of Christianityto highlight Harjos two modes. women, all of my tribe, all people, all earth, and beyond that to all [21] She was also the second United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to serve three terms. In that fact is beauty, and perhaps redemption. Turn off that cellphone, computer, and remote control. I feel her phrases, [1] Her father, Allen W. Foster, was Muscogee, and her mother, Wynema Baker Foster, was Cherokee and European-American from Arkansas. And I think of the 6th Avenue jail, of mostly Nativeand Black men, where Henry told about being shot ateight times outside a liquor store in L.A., but whenthe car sped away he was surprised he was alive,no bullet holes, man, and eight cartridges strewnon the sidewalk all around him. It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. Nora and I go walking down 4th Avenueand know it is all happening.On a park bench we see someone's Athabascangrandmother, folded up, smelling like 200 yearsof blood and piss, her eyes closed against someunimagined darkness, where she is buried in an achein which nothing makes sense. I link my legs to yours and we ride together. Harjo tells the tale of a fierce and ongoing fight for sovereignty, integrity, and basic humanity, a plea that we as Americans take responsibility for what's been and being done in our names. When reading her poems, she speaks with a musical tone in her voice, creating a song in every poem. Birds are singing the sky into place. I would like to say, with grace, we picked ourselves up and walked into the spring thaw. It is not exotic. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian. Explore Joy Harjo's Poet Laureate Project, which samples the work of 47 Native Nation poets. Anger tormenting us. "For Keeps" by Joy Harjo Joy Harjo, one of our favorite Native American authors, sets this love poem in the majesty of the outdoors. For Keeps from Conflict Resolution for Holy BeingsW.W. Birds are singing the sky into place. Next Post. Joy Harjo is best known as a poet, but some of her work in this form can best be described as prose poetry, so the difference between the two genres tends to blur in her books. MARCH 4, 2013, CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS. By Joy Harjo. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1699 titles we cover. There are also examples of chremamorphism, the impression of inanimate qualities onto living beings (horses who were skins of ocean water, horses who were clay and would break); and personification (horses who threw rocks at glass houses, horses who danced in their mothers arms). This city is made of stone, of blood, and fish. Listen to Joy Harjo perform I Am a Dangerous Woman/Crossing the Border Into Canada here. We gallop into a warm, southern wind. Poetry always directly or inadvertently mirrors the state of the state either directly or sideways. Once the World Was Perfect Summary & Analysis. Here is unbridled potential for the poeticin everything, even in ourselves. We gallop into a warm, southern wind. Using the repeated phrase thats also shared by the title, the speaker catalogs a collage of different horses owned by an unnamed she. At first, these horses are described solely in abstract terms as reflections of nature or impressions of moments and feelings. Expectations a terse arm-fold, a failing noun-thing In a prefatory prose statement Harjo explains the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which expelled tribes from their land, making explicit connection between past and present: "The indigenous peoples. Listen to a recording of "Once The World Was Perfect.". I lean into the rhythm of your heart to see where it will take us. 1Once the world was perfect, and we were happy in that world. I link my legs to yours and we ride together, Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1951, Harjo is a member of the Mvskoke/Creek Nation. This trade language, as she later calls English, is weak, insufficient. All Rights Reserved. She had horses who called themselves, horse.(). It can be easy, reading Harjo, to lose footing in such intangibles, but some of her themes achieve a strange resonance. For Keeps by Joy Harjo Sun makes the day new. It may return in pieces, in tatters. Harjo believes that when reading her poems, she can add music by playing the sax and reach the heart of the listener in a different way. Embed our how it keeps the things we ought not to forget alive and present. Echo. Joy Harjo. Poetry. Harjo has spent her career trying to fulfill this credo. [1] She is an important figure in the second wave of the literary Native American Renaissance of the late 20th century. The heart knows the way though there may be high-rises, interstates, checkpoints, armed soldiers, massacres, wars, and those who will despise you because they despise themselves. crouched in footnote or blazing in title. [33], In addition to her creative writing, Harjo has written and spoken about US political and Native American affairs. Cosettas landflattened to a parking lot. It is everlasting. This book is as precise as a ceremony and just as serious. More often we encounter a we, a kind of legion that Harjo creates, and from which Harjos grandfather Monahwee, a recurring figure in the prose sections, occasionally steps out. 23Everyone worked together to make a ladder. Because who would believethe fantastic and terrible story of all of our survivalthose who were never meant to survive? Yrsa Daley Ward as a poet. Harjo is stunning in these moments of brutality, when she exposes the human potential for evil. We didn't; the next season was worse. Poet Laureate", "Joy Harjo: Feminist, Indigenous, Poetic Voice", "A Poet's Words From the Heart of Her Heritage", "Librarian of Congress Names Joy Harjo the Nation's 23rd Poet Laureate", "Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Native Writers Circle of America", "New Group Is Formed to Sponsor Native Arts", "NACF National Leadership Council Members", "Current News, American Indian Studies Program, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign", "The Creative Writing Program Welcomes Joy Harjo to the Faculty as a Professor & Chair of Excellence | Department of English", "Joy Harjo Becomes The First Native American U.S. Horses were vital to many Indigenous American tribes and, as such, make a moving and convenient, if not intentionally jarring, stand-in for people. We know ourselves to be part of mystery. Eventually, the horses start to express traits reserved for humans embodying both the best and worst in people. Refine any search. [5][6] Harjo loved painting and found that it gave her a way to express herself. She Had Some Horses by Joy Harjo illustrates the plurality of differences among people. There is nowhere else I want to be but here. While the juxtaposition of the last two lines between the horses that waltzed on the moon with those that, out of shyness, kept quiet in stalls of their own making furthers this motif of plurality amongst seemingly identical things (i.e., horses, humans). And I think of the 6th Avenue jail, of mostly Native, and Black men, where Henry told about being shot at, eight times outside a liquor store in L.A., but when. After the funeralI stowed her jewelry in the ground,promised to return when the rivers rose. Springer Spaniel Rescues In Central Texas, they ask.And what has taken you so long?That night after eating, singing, and dancingWe lay together under the stars.We know ourselves to be part of mystery.It is unspeakable.It is everlasting.It is for keeps. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. She had horses who whispered in the dark, who were afraid to speak. Muscogee Creek History [4], At the age of 16, Harjo attended the Institute of American Indian Arts, which at the time was a BIA boarding school, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for high school. Joy uses figurative language to relay the message of the poem. Joy Harjo is usually classified as a American Indian poet. inspiration, for life. Craig Womack Joy Harjo Analysis 1931 Words | 8 Pages. have to; it is my survival. "School's now closed; everyone must go home a month too soon"(Lai 38). [2], Harjo was born on May 9, 1951, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We respond to all comments too, giving you the answers you need. The weight of ashes from burned-out camps. The horses are desperate enough to get down on their knees for any savior (an allusion to the ways religious submission fueled by fear can be abused) or who think their wealth can protect them (their high price had saved them). Central Message: People vary greatly to the point of contradiction, Emotions Evoked: Empathy, Frustration, Terror, This poem creatively uses anaphora with impressive effect, employing arresting imagery and uses of figurative language. And we turn this soundover and over againuntil it becomesfertile groundfrom which we will buildnew nationsupon the ashes of our ancestors.Until it becomesthe rattle of a new revolutionthese fingersdrumming on keys. A member of the Muskogee tribe, she uses American Indian imagery, folktales, symbolism, mythology, and technique in her work. "She Had Some Horses by Joy Harjo". I dreamed when I wasFour that I was standing on it.a whiteman with a knife cut piecesawayand threw the meatto the dogs. [34], Harjo's poetry explores imperialism and colonization, and their effects on violence against women. In stanzas that gradually swell to short paragraphs, Harjo creates a loose meditation on memory, full of chameleonic images in which familial scenes intermix with mentions of a fox guardian and Star Wars and the sax solo in Careless Whisper. The muddle is intentional; Harjos canvas is sprawling, complex, but she wants to make the act of seeing it challenging. We lay together under the stars. places that I touch down on and that are myself, to all voices, all [19], In 2016, Harjo was appointed to the Chair of Excellence in the Department of English at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Harjo draws on First Nation storytelling and histories, as well as feminist and social justice poetic traditions, and frequently incorporates indigenous myths, symbols, and values into her writing. This dichotomy even crops up within the individual as well. Ad Choices. She Had Some Horses by Joy Harjo is a poem that projects the variety of human personality and experience onto a symbolic collection of horses. Of these, memory is at the forefront, whether appearing, as it does, as an abstract obsession, or personified, slipping into a dress and red shoes. She Had Some Horses is a powerful poem that uses figurative language to creatively ponder the multitudes of similarities and differences we share as humans. Poet Laureate", "Joy Harjo will serve a rare third term as U.S. poet laureate", "Joy Harjo's 'Crazy Brave' Path To Finding Her Voice", "First Native American Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo releases new album "I Pray For My Enemies" Skope Entertainment Inc", "An Interview with Joy Harjo, U.S. The way the content is organized. Tiny green plants emerge from earth. This contributes to the poems attempt to accentuate the paradox of finding diversity cohabitating within the same species of thing (i.e., horses, people). A poet considers America, and what it means to call a country home. Pages are cavernous places, white at entrance, black in absorption. Here, she says, is a living, breathing earth to which were all connected. [11] She also took filmmaking classes at the Anthropology Film Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. they ask.And what has taken you so long?That night after eating, singing, and dancingWe lay together under the stars.We know ourselves to be part of mystery.It is unspeakable.It is everlasting.It is for keeps. Once there were coyotes, cardinalsin the cedar. Read the full text of Once the World Was Perfect. The analysis of Harjo's poem called What I Should Have Said demonstrates that the horse there is the creature that exists between two worlds. Where in the body do I begin; Joy Harjo was appointed the new United States poet laureate in 2019. Harjo, though very much a poet of America, extracts from her own personal and cultural touchstones a more galactal understanding of the world, and her poems become richer for it. Tiny green plants emerge from earth. Given the vastness of the horses described, its probably not such a big surprise that the unnamed she finds themselves regarding that spectrum with an equally drastic binary she loved and she hated. But the real phenomenon that the speaker and, by extension, Harjo point to (which is reinforced by the anaphora of She had some horses) is the paradox of finding unity in multiplicity. We have seen it. You must clean yourself with cedar, sage, or other healing plant. In contrast, others were more ambiguous and secretive (called themselves, spirit. and kept their voices secret and to themselves). As the comparisons continue, the speaker grows ever more abstract in their descriptions of the horses. The concerns are particular, yet often universal." The poets and poems gathered here showcase both the universal and the particular approaches Native American authors have taken to writing about diverse . She graduated in 1976. One sends me new work spotted. His critique of Dublin's spiritual life exists alongside a solid portrait of an individual man. There is no definite rhyme scheme or meter. One of the things was that her everyday life in Saigon changed from the starting of the war. You must call in a way that your spirit will want to return. [2][27], Harjo's awards for poetry include the Ruth Lily Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the Poetry Foundation, the Academy of American Poets Wallace Stevens Award, the New Mexico Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts, a PEN USA Literary Award, Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund Writers Award, the Poets & Writers Jackson Poetry Prize, a Rasmuson US Artist Fellowship, two NEA fellowships, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. 4Then Doubt pushed through with its spiked head. Let the earth stabilize your postcolonial insecure jitters. I scold myself in the mirror for holding. Though some poems toss shade in the direction of anonymous political powers, others explore the complex political position of Harjo herself. Joy Harjos memoir opens to an event from childhood where she is in the backseat of her fathers car, driving through Tulsa, and hears jazz. And the grey weathered stumps,trees and treatiescut downtrampled for wealth.Flat Potlatch plateausof ghost forestsraked by bearssoften rot inwarduntil tiny arrows of greensproutrise erectrootfedfrom each crumbling center. As the title suggests, the poem depicts a time when the world was "perfect" and human . I link my legs to yours and we ride together, [24] Her use of the oral tradition is prevalent through various literature readings and musical performances conducted by Harjo. Everybody Has a Heartache: A Blues. That makes for 30 days, 30 poems, and 30 poets. Sun makes the day new. I link my legs to yours and we ride together, Toward the ancient encampment of our relatives. Harjo is the author of nine books of poetry, and two award-winning children's books, The Good Luck Cat and For a Girl Becoming. Joy Harjo is a mother, activist, painter, poet, musician, and author. shared a blanket. Some of those metaphors are also allusions to the violence against Indigenous Americans (horses who were maps drawn of blood) and their immense capacity to look beyond their storied abuse (horses who waltzed nightly on the moon). Joy Harjo is a major American poet who was chosen as poet laureate of the United States. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories, To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. Pettit, Ronda (1998). We gallop into a warm, southern wind. The poet emphasizes how important it is to remember one's history and relation to all living things. Tiny green plants emerge from the earth. Copyright 2008 - 2023 . Learn more about the poet's life and work. She keeps getting frustrated with herself because she can't speak it as well as she wants to but is still not giving up. Buy From a Local Bookstore. Its subject matter is at the same time the story of Harjos people, the poets personal story, and the human metanarrative; it is life and the lessons we each must learn and pass on to future generations. Harjo keeps referring to a map in her poem, but a map was not meant for the creator of that map to use. They range from ceremonial orality which might occur from spoken word to European fixed forms; to the many classic traditions that occur in all cultures, including theoretical abstract forms that find resonance on the page or in image. Highlighting via the horses all the varieties in physical appearance (long, pointed breasts and full, brown thighs) and temperament that humans share: from those that appear a little too self-righteous for their own good (throwing rocks at glass houses) to those that enjoy violence more than they should or are prone to self-destruction (licked razor blades). Joy Harjo reads the poem aloud and briefly discusses her inspiration for it. Additional summative assessments will include a unit comprehension test and a character/theme analysis essay. they ask. "Once the World Was Perfect" was written by former U.S. poet laureate Joy Harjo, a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, and published in the 2015 collection Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings.The free verse poem condemns the divisive power of greed while also celebrating the unifying power of kindness. Joy Harjo was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on May 9, 1951 (Napikoski). Her family was challenged by her father's struggle with alcohol as well as an abusive stepfather. [7] Harjo was inspired by her great-aunt, Lois Harjo Ball, who was a painter. Because I learn from young poets. Her father was a Muscogee Creek citizen whose mother came from a line of respected warriors, and speakers who served the Muscogee Nation in the . It refers to lines of verse that contain five sets of two beats, the first of which is stressed and the second is unstressed. [30], As a musician, Harjo has released seven CDs. am: to all past and future ancestors, to my home country, to all In an early collection, She Had Some Horses, Harjo painted this arresting picture: The moon came up white, and tornat the edges. Grandmas perfect tomatoes.Squash. While reading poetry, she claims that "[she] starts not even with an image but a sound," which is indicative of her oral traditions expressed in performance. [27][28], She has published two award-winning children's books, The Good Luck Cat and For a Girl Becoming; a collaboration with photographer/astronomer Stephen Strom; an anthology of North American Native women's writing; several screenplays and collections of prose interviews; and three plays, including Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light, A Play, which she toured as a one-woman show and was recently published by Wesleyan Press. Where the speaker explains how the horses who tried to save the unnamed she were also the same ones who climbed into her bed and prayed as they raped her.. She taught us to shuck corn, laughing,never spoke about her childhoodor the faces in gingerbread tinsstacked in the closet. Her poetry is included on a plaque on LUCY, a NASA spacecraft launched in Fall 2021 and the first reconnaissance of the Jupiter Trojans. I frequently refer my audience the Academy of American Poets (poets.org), the creators and sponsors of National Poetry Month, for a more official poem-a-day email list. Discontent began a Harjo keeps referring to a map in her poem, but a map was not meant for the creator of that map to use. They tellthe story of our family. If Im transformed by language, I am often Call your spirit back. Maps are created for others to follow, usually to a goal that is desired. Please continue to help us support the fight against dementia with Alzheimer's Research Charity. Academy of American Poets, 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038. That night after eating, singing, and dancing She is the author of several books of poetry, including An American Sunrise, which is forthcoming from W. W. Norton in 2019, and Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings (W. W. Norton, 2015). I know there is something larger than the memory of a dispossessed people. A Hamilton Stagehand on Telling Stories with Lights. These helpers take many forms: animal, element, bird, angel, saint, stone, or ancestor. LitCharts Teacher Editions. We gallop into a warm, southern wind. Joy Harjo (/hrdo/ HAR-joh; born May 9, 1951) is an American poet, musician, playwright, and author. The sacred and profane tangle and are threaded into the lands guarded by the four sacred mountains in the poetry of Sherwin Bitsui. Poetry is one tool for diving As / Us Editor Tanaya Winder interviews writer and musician Joy Harjo. Eagle Poem. When you find your way to the circle, to the fire kept burning by the keepers of your soul, you will be welcomed. New Horizon School Bahrain Fee Structure, Financial Statements For Pepsi Company For 2019, Springer Spaniel Rescues In Central Texas. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. There is nowhere else I want to be but here. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. All Poems; Poem Guides; Audio Poems; Collections; Poets. The poet Joy Harjo, who was recently named the U.S. Joy Harjo Joy Harjo Latest answer posted October 03, 2011 at 2:27:56 AM Describe the setting of "Eagle Poem" by Joy Harjo, and the context clues that point to that setting. Financial Statements For Pepsi Company For 2019, Harjo, explains how everything in the world is connected in some way. There is nowhere else I want to be but here. I lean into the rhythm of your heart to see where it will take us. Joy Harjo, though very much a poet of America, extracts from her own personal and cultural touchstones a more galactal understanding of the world, and her poems become richer for it. But, elsewhere, her control falters. Welcome your spirit back from its wandering. Instant PDF downloads. Birds are singing the sky into place. Essay Sample Check Writing Quality. 1. Every single person that visits Poem Analysis has helped contribute, so thank you for your support. As the title suggests, the poem depicts a time when the world was "perfect" and human beings lived in harmony with each other and with the planet. For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in Its Human Feet. She states, This earth asks for so little from us human beings. This is very true. She was a recipient of the 2017 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the Academy of American Poets Wallace Stevens Award, two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Tulsa Artist Fellowship, among other honors. A new volume from the first Native American Poet Laureate of the U.S., informed by her tribal history and connection to the land. Grandma potted a cedar saplingI could take on the road for luck.She used the bark for heart lesionsdoctors couldnt explain.To her they were maps, traces of home,the Milky Way, where shes going, she said. of Libraries", "Native Nations Poetry Anthology Wins PEN Oakland Award | Department of English", "Michelle Obama, Mia Hamm chosen for Women's Hall of Fame", "Joy Harjo, Kristin Chenoweth honored at Oklahoma Governor's Arts Awards", "NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE ANNOUNCES FINALISTS FOR PUBLISHING YEAR 2022", "2021 Newly Elected Members American Academy of Arts and Letters", "The American Philosophical Society Welcomes New Members for 2021", "Joy Harjo and Natasha Trethewey Named Academy of American Poets Chancellors | poets.org", "Letter From The End of the Twentieth Century - album by Joy Harjo", "Native Joy For Real an album by Joy Harjo", "Winding Through The Milky Way an album by Joy Harjo", "Red Dreams, Trail Beyond Tears an album by Joy Harjo", Joy Harjo, U.S. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Your email address will not be published. It may be caught in corners and creases of shame, judgment, and human abuse. Instant downloads of all 1699 LitChart PDFs Writer, musician, and current Poet Laureate of the United States Joy Harjoher surname means so brave youre crazywas born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and is a member of the Mvskoke (also spelled Muscogee) Creek Nation. If you sing it will give your spirit lift to fly to the stars ears and back. She earned her BA from the University of New Mexico and MFA from the Iowa Writers Workshop. And, Wind, I am still crazy. Ask their forgiveness for the harm we humans have brought down upon them. Notes: Joy Harjo, How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems, 1975 2001 (New York: W. W. Norton & And the Earth keeps up her dancing and she is neither perfect nor exactly in time. Hello Friends, Do you ever feel like the birds are singing the sky into place? Poet Laureate: A Resource Guide from the Library of Congress, Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture Harjo, Joy, Interview with Joy Harjo on WHYY Fresh Air, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joy_Harjo&oldid=1139533249, PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award winners, Native American dramatists and playwrights, Members of the American Philosophical Society, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from October 2021, BLP articles lacking sources from May 2015, Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Author, poet, performer, educator, United States Poet Laureate, Outstanding Young Women of America (1978), National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowships (1978), 1st Place in Poetry in the Santa Fe Festival of the Arts (1980), Outstanding Young Women of America (1984). The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Actress Michelle Pierce Obituary, Ward, Steven. Some feel knowingly plucked from context, their lyricism pleasantly restrained (The right hand knows what the left / Hand is dreaming), but they harmonize well with Cannons visual art, which are splashed with bold colors and patterns that conjure psychedelic, almost hallucinatory, portraits of Western landscapes and Native American life. [36][37] Harjo reaches readers and audiences to bring realization of the wrongs of the past, not only for Native American communities but for oppressed communities in general. Publisher. Indeed, Whitman is a certain influence, but he and Harjo diverge in their sense of scope. Joy Harjo is a part of the Native American Renaissance literary movement that focuses on portraying themes, such as identity, justice, grief, nature, culture, beliefs, and values through literature. This personification is saying not to forget how the sun rises. 24A Wind Clan person climbed out first into the next world. One example is when she says, "Remember the suns birth at dawn. Tiny green plants emerge from earth. Womack emphasizes that critics misjudge Harjos poetry by presuming a heterosexual reading for her poetry and paying no attention to her intention, same-sex desire. Birds are singing the sky into place. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Oakland PEN, Josephine Miles Poetry Award, "Tobacco Origin Story, Because Tobacco Was a Gift Intended to Walk Alongside Us to the Stars", List of writers from peoples indigenous to the Americas, "Meet Joy Harjo, The 1st Native American U.S. Though two individuals are quite small in the grand scheme of things, their love is also part of the grand scheme of things. Harjo is a member of the Muscogee Nation (Este Mvskokvlke) and belongs to Oce Vpofv (Hickory Ground). We still talk about that winter, how the cold froze imaginary buffalo on the stuffed horizon of snowbanks. But the abhorrence of religion as a means of control is nowhere as potent as the final line in this section. Instead, they begin to personify humans in appearance and character, specifically women. Get the entire guide to Once the World Was Perfect as a printable PDF. Harjo interrogates both ones responsibility toward ones culture and the fear of being buried under its weight. Which in turn symbolizes and embodies the vital reliance Indigenous tribes share in regard to the environment. Photograph by Shawn Miller / Library of Congress / NYT / Redux. the car sped away he was surprised he was alive, no bullet holes, man, and eight cartridges strewn. 2023 Cond Nast. The lines grant her authority, particularly in moments when she imparts tidythough vastly poeticadages, but they occasionally box in her language. We were bumping Poem Analysis, https://poemanalysis.com/joy-harjo/she-had-some-horses/. She is a current Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma. But by shifting the focus at the last minute from the Church to a single, troubled man, Joyce keeps "Grace" from turning into a diatribe. One sends me new work spotted with salt crystals she metaphors as her tears.