Washing My Mother's Body

Joy Harjo is an internationally renowned poet, performer, and writer of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation who has served three terms as the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States. Illustrated by Dana Tiger, an award-winning internationally acclaimed artist. She is a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and is of Seminole and Cherokee descent.

As I wash my mother’s face, I tell her

how beautiful she is, how brave, how her beauty and bravery

live on in her grandchildren. Her face is relaxed, peaceful.

Her earth memory body has not left yet,

but when I see her the next day, embalmed and in the casket

in the funeral home, it will be gone.

Where does it go?

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. This book is Fully illustrated.