An American writer of Cherokee descent, Joy Harjo has penned eight books of poetry. Her award-winning collection titled "In Mad Love and War" features "Eagle Poem." A powerful work that explores the nature and limitations of prayer, the poem contains these lines: "Like eagle that Sunday morning / Over Salt River. Circled in blue sky / In wind, swept our hearts clean / With sacred wings." For Harjo, the eagle functions as a bird spirit guide, granting blessings and wiping slates clean.
A poet, novelist and filmmaker, Sherman Alexie was born on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington. His work often features dark humor and irony, while exploring hard luck and punctured hearts. His poem "Crow Testament" pairs Old Testament figures Cain and Abel with a Crow that plays the role of a broken spirit guide. Throughout the poem, "Crow" remains capitalized, indicating his status as a holy character, despite his misfortunes. Alexie writes: "Crow rides a pale horse / into a crowded powwow / but none of the Indians panic. / Damn, says Crow, I guess / they already live near the end of the world."
A member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, Louise Erdrich has won numerous awards for her poetry and fiction. In 2009, her novel "Plague of Doves" was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. "Whooping Cranes," a poem from the collection "Jacklight," concerns itself with a foundling boy who ends up flying in the "mystical formation" of whooping cranes that "sailed over / trumpeting the boy's name." Erdrich's reverential treatment of bird spirit guides aligns itself with Harjo's, as opposed to Alexie's wry humor.
A traditional Navajo poem, "House Made of Dawn" addresses an unnamed bird in a solemn, chant-like prayer. While the reader is never explicitly told what type of bird this spiritual guide is, the poem makes it clear the winged creature is all-powerful and holy. "With the zigzag lightning flung out on high on the ends of your wings, come to us soaring. / With the rainbow hanging high on the ends of your wings, come to us soaring." After the speaker prepares a sacrifice, he is healed by the bird, concluding, "It is finished in beauty."