Episode 34: An American Sunrise

Connor and Jack discuss Joy Harjo's "An American Sunrise. Along the way Jack recommends a documentary, Connor gives his current hot take on form in poetry, and both think about the origins of blues, jazz, and rock and roll.

Check out the poem below, or at this link. Hear Joy Harjo's sung rendition of the poem and learn more about "Golden Shovel" poems, here. Watch the trailer for "Rumble: Indians Who Rocked the World."

An American Sunrise
By: Joy Harjo

We were running out of breath, as we ran out to meet ourselves. We
were surfacing the edge of our ancestors’ fights, and ready to strike.
It was difficult to lose days in the Indian bar if you were straight.
Easy if you played pool and drank to remember to forget. We
made plans to be professional — and did. And some of us could sing
so we drummed a fire-lit pathway up to those starry stars. Sin
was invented by the Christians, as was the Devil, we sang. We
were the heathens, but needed to be saved from them — thin
chance. We knew we were all related in this story, a little gin
will clarify the dark and make us all feel like dancing. We
had something to do with the origins of blues and jazz
I argued with a Pueblo as I filled the jukebox with dimes in June,
forty years later and we still want justice. We are still America. We
know the rumors of our demise. We spit them out. They die
soon.