Cloud Runner
Poems
Coming in October!
Three-term U.S. Poet Laureate returns with a moving collection about grief, loss, and how art can transform suffering.
In this searing volume, Harjo's poems become essential witnesses to history, especially in our current era of compounded loss: mass shootings, missing and murdered Native women, climate disaster, and political violence. Cloud Runner explores how all grief may be connected; it is a testament to poetry’s power to speak what is unspeakable, to touch what the mind cannot carry.
Cloud Runner: Poems by Joy Harjo (October 13, 2026) Joy Harjo’s poetry has always been accessible—and this is coming from someone who used to be scared of reading poetry. This evocative collection is no different in that regard, although it did feel distinct from her previous work to me. I think this is because while her poetry always brings in deeply personal experiences, Cloud Runner moves through Harjo’s grief upon losing her daughter to cancer. At its heart, the collection is an homage to the bond between mother and child. It’s an immersive, musical experience (which fans of the 23rd US Poet Laureate will recognize as a signature aspect of her work) that blends Harjo’s personal grief with Indigenous (Muscogee) mythos and epistemologies. It is one of the most tender poetry collections I’ve ever encountered.
