Joy Harjo, one of this country's foremost Native American voices,
combines elements of storytelling, prayer, and song, informed by her
interest in jazz and by her North American tribal background, in this,
her fourth volume of poetry. She is a mythic, visionary, and spiritual
poet who draws from the Native American tradition of praising the land
and the spirit, the realities of American culture, and the concept of
feminine individuality. In describing this volume Harjo has said: "I
believe that the word poet is synonymous with the word truth teller. So
this collection tells a bit of the truth of what I have seen since my
coming of age in the late sixties."