Joy Harjo, the twenty-third and current Poet Laureate of the United States, is from the Muscogee (Creek) American Indian Nation. For Harjo, who is a saxophonist and vocalist, music provides not only a means of structuring poems but also a way to access something beyond words, to connect with the “worlds below us and above us.” In this poem, Harjo recounts her experiences rowing dugout canoes in Hawaii. Ah, ah cries the crow arching toward the heavy sky over the marina.

Lands on the crown of the palm tree.

Ah, ah slaps the urgent cove of ocean swimming through the slips.

We carry canoes to the edge of the salt.

5 Ah, ah groans the crew with the weight, the winds cutting skin.

We claim our seats. Pelicans perch in the draft for fish.

Ah, ah beats our lungs and we are racing into the waves.

Though there are worlds below us and above us, we are straight ahead. Ah, ah scrapes the hull of my soul. Ah, ah

Look at the words that follow, "Ah, ah" in the poem. How do those words impact the tone of the poem

A.
The words following “Ah, ah” demonstrate how powerful onomatopoeia can be in poetry to show our connection to nature.

B.
The words following “Ah, ah” tell the reader how to hear the sound for that line and set the tone for each stanza.

C.
The words following “Ah, ah” show the reader how to interpret the complex metaphors that follow in each line.

D.
The words following “Ah, ah” reveal the increasingly violent sounds and events the speaker is experiencing.