Sat, Aug 16
|Collected Works Bookstore & Coffeehouse
Joy Harjo, Washing My Mother's Body: A Ceremony for Grief
Ever resonant, ever luminous, ever lyrical Poet Laureate Joy Harjo will read from and talk about the beautifully illustrated edition of her poem “Washing My Mother’s Body,” which offers a way through grief when the loss appears unbearable.
Date, Time & Location
Aug 16, 2025, 4:30 PM MDT
Collected Works Bookstore & Coffeehouse, 202 Galisteo St, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA
About the Event
Join us in-store or register here to watch on Zoom.
Joy Harjo will be introduced by Tanya Tyler, a second-year student of the MFA program in Creative Nonfiction at IAIA.
Order Washing My Mother's Body ($17.99, hardcover) from CWB online here, or call the store to order (505) 988-4226.
Through lyrical prose and evocative watercolor illustrations by award-winning Muscogee artist Dana Tiger, Washing My Mother’s Body explores the complexity of a daughter’s grief as she reflects on the joys and sorrows of her mother’s life. She lays her mother to rest in the landscape of her memory, honoring the hands that raised her, the body that protected her, and the legs that carried her mother through adversity.
Moving, comforting, and deeply emotional, Washing My Mother’s Body is a tender look at mother-daughter relationships, the complexity of grieving the loss of a parent, and the enduring love of those left behind.