“I love how Joy Harjo’s poems tap into the spiritual, the animal, and the human all at the same time,” says Laura Stott, a poet, professor and the 2020 recipient of the Ogden City Mayor’s Award in the Arts. “They show how connected we all are on this planet, and how connected we are to the other side. And as she pulls it all together, she shows us what the poet’s job is. In ‘The Path to the Milky Way Leads Through Los Angeles; she says talks about not only the taste of minerals of planets in hamburgers, but how ‘The shimmer of gods is easier to perceive at sunrise or dusk.”
Stott pairs one of her own works, also about Los Angeles, with two readings of Harjo’s poems for our Poets in Pajamas series.
Stott’s newest collection, Blue Nude Migration, came out last year during the pandemic. In a former iteration, the collection was also an exhibition, with paintings by the poet’s sister (see our article in 15 Bytes). Stott holds an M.F.A. from Eastern Washington University and teaches at Weber State University.
Running annually during the month of April, Poets in Pajamas invites Utah poets to read from their own work and the work of a poet they admire.
Categories: Literary Arts | Poets in Pajamas
