Joy Harjo to discuss 'Washing My Mother’s Body' at Collected Works

AT COLLECTED WORKS

Joy Harjo, the 23rd United States Poet Laureate, will read from and talk about the illustrated edition of her poem “Washing My Mother’s Body: A Ceremony for Grief” at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 16, at Collected Works in Santa Fe.

Accompanying the poem are watercolor illustrations by Dana Tiger.

Harjo’s poem explores the complexity of a daughter’s grief as she reflects on the joys and sorrows of her mother’s life. It is described as a tender look at mother-daughter relationships, at the grieving of the loss of a parent and the enduring love of those left behind.

Harjo, who is Muscogee, is the first Native American to serve as U.S. Poet Laureate, with her tenure running from 2019-2023. She is also an award-winning author of children’s books, of three plays and two memoirs, and a musician and performer.

Introducing her will be Tanya Tyler (Diné), a second-year student in the Master of Fine Arts program in creative nonfiction at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe.

A graduate of the University of New Mexico, Harjo lives on the Muscogee Nation in Oklahoma.

Collected Works is located at 202 Galisteo St. in Santa Fe.

AT HERE GALLERY

Three writers will read from and chat about their work at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 10, at HERE Gallery in Santa Fe.

The writers are Lynn Miller of Albuquerque (fiction), and Barbara Rockman (poetry) and Tina Carlson (essays), both of Santa Fe.

The gallery is located at 1704C Llano St. in Santa Fe.

A NOVEL ABOUT A UFO

William C. Wertz is the author of a mystery-thriller titled “Disappearing Act: A Jay Chang Novel.”

The author writes in a news release that the book, published earlier this year, is “fiction, but it’s plausible fiction. It raises the question of what our government should do, what the right process would be to follow, if some inexplicable and likely extraterrestrial technology came to its attention.”

In the story, Jay Chang learns about the disappearance of a missing scientist — and several colleagues — from Los Alamos National Laboratory.

With the help of a beautiful Israeli spy, Chang finds out there is something the Pentagon is determined to keep secret about the mysterious object that fell from the sky near Roswell in 1947.

Wertz grew up in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and worked for many years at The Associated Press. He is now the deputy opinion editor at The Oklahoman newspaper.

“Disappearing Act” is the first of several books he plans to write with Chang as the protagonist, he said.

Joy Harjo to discuss 'Washing My Mother’s Body' at Collected Works