Secrets from the Center of the World (Sun Tracks, Vol 17) (Paperback)

by Joy Harjo (Author), Stephen Strom (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
"My house is the red earth; it could be the center of the world." This is Navajo country, a land of mysterious and delicate beauty. "Stephen Strom's photographs lead you to that place," writes Joy Harjo. "The camera eye becomes a space you can move through into the powerful landscapes that he photographs. The horizon may shift and change all around you, but underneath it is the heart with which we move." Harjo's prose poems accompany these images, interpreting each photograph as a story that evokes the spirit of the Earth. Images and words harmonize to evoke the mysteries of what the Navajo call the center of the world.

About the Author
Joy Harjo is currently teaching at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 75 pages
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press; First Edition first Printing edition (July 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816511136
• ISBN-13: 978-0816511136
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 6 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,117,120 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Living poetry, connecting all things, March 10, 1997

By A Customer

Nowhere have I read poetry that so completely encompasses the Native American view of the connectedness of all things. Harjo's writings, coupled with Steven Strom's photography of "Indian country" make this a book that I read over and over, each time drawing something new. It is one of the only books I've ever read that convinces me that language is "alive", as alive as we are, as alive as the shoulder bone of a mountian, as alive as a comet which streaks its way across the sky. It is my favorite book. Period.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Joy Harjo perfect words to Stephen Strom's photos, May 17, 2000

By	M. J. Smith (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Joy Harjo is a multi-talented artist - poetry and music (with Poetic Justice) available. Here she has paired her words to Stephen Strom's photographs. His photographs of landscapes have an unusual and very effective use of colors ... many reminding me of the softness of watercolor or pastels.

Joy Harjo has provided text - somewhere between prose and prose poems - that engage the accompanying photographs to create a mythic sense. For example a photo of rose-tinted desert sand with no sky (Overlook west of Tuba City)is accompanied by "Two sisters meet on horseback. They gossip: a cousin eloped with someone's husband, twins were born to his wife. One is headed toward Tsaile, and the other to Round Rock. Their horses are rose sand, with manes of ashy rock."

An excellent book.