Crazy Brave

I struggle with Joy Harjo’s poetry. Maybe I haven’t heard it read properly, or maybe I’m just a troglodyte who will deservedly be kicked out of my favorite book club for sacrilege. Crazy Brave, though, was a whole nother matter: I found myself drawn in, loathing her story — the abuse, the drama, the senselessness — but adoring her words. In the process, gaining a deeper understanding of and compassion for Native women and the circumstances that so relentlessly push them into heartbreak.