When Rilla Askew first read one of Joy Harjoâs poems in 1989 as she sat in a motel in St. Louis, she was stunned by the power of her words.Â
âI just kind of fell back on the bed,â Askew said. âI was so knocked out by the power of it, by the beauty of it, by the pain, and by the honesty and by the things that I recognized that were so particularly Oklahoma and so particularly Native.âÂ
Harjoâs poems, which were featured in âOklahoma Indian Markings,â the spring 1989 edition of the Nimrod International Journal of Prose and Poetry, alongside some of Askewâs work, were written toward the beginning of Harjoâs career as her poetry received increasing acclaim, Askew said.  Â