HONORING JOY HARJO- NATIVE AMERICAN U.S. POET LAUREATE

“If we knew that we were connected, there would not be the divisiveness in the nation. If we understood the way those Muscogee Creek and Native elders taught us that we are all part of each other and that all the children are our children...there would not be the divisiveness.” ~ Joy Harjo, U.S. Poet Laureate

Whether it is November, designated as Indigenous Peoples' Month, or any other time of the year, it is always the right time to enjoy the poetry of our current U.S. Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo, the first Native person of the Muscogee Creek Nation, to be so honored.

The Library of Congress notes that, "her work powerfully connects us to the earth and the spiritual world with direct inventive lyricism that helps us reimagine who we are." The Washington Post declares that Harjo's poetry is "medicine for the whole nation."

Though it was art and not poetry that was where she found her first creative footing. And it was a godsend because at age 16, Joy's abusive stepfather was about to kick her out of the house or send her to a church school. Instead, she was accepted at the IAIA--Institute of American Indian Arts, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Later, as a student at the University of New Mexico she changed her major to Creative Writing. She says, "It was the spirit of poetry who reached out and found me as I stood there at the doorway between panic and love." (For years she dealt with panic attacks from being under the stress of raising two small children while in an abusive relationship then as a single parent and a university student. Also, her stepfather had demanded that her 14-year-old brother leave the family home, so Joy took him in and became his guardian.) She went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing at the University of Iowa, in 1978.

In addition to poetry, Joy’s 70-year span of creativity includes being a musician, most notably the saxophone and Indian flute. She has produced seven albums total with two different bands, Poetic Justice and Arrow Dynamics. She often performs her poems to music. Harjo is the author of nine volumes of poetry including, Conflict Resolutions for Holy Beings, She Had Some Horses, and An American Sunrise. She has also written two memoirs, Crazy Brave and Poet Warrior, children's books and plays. She has taught Creative Writing all over the United States, at the IAIA and at numerous universities, including Arizona State, the University of Colorado and UCLA.

In an interview Joy gave when she first became Poet Laureate in 2019, she said she was asked what she was going to do in the position. Her response was, “My poems are about confronting the kind of society that would diminish Native People, disappear us from the story of the country. Poetry gives us a way to speak and express our thoughts so we can find pathways to heal.”

Center for Spiritual Living Visalia encourages and supports all paths to healing.

A sample of Joy’s poetry:

Remember

Remember the sky that you were born under,

know each of the star's stories.

Remember the moon, know who she is.

Remember the sun's birth at dawn, that is the

strongest point of time. Remember sundown

and the giving away to night.

Remember your birth, how your mother struggled

to give you form and breath. You are evidence of

her life, and her mother's, and hers.

Remember your father. He is your life, also.

Remember the earth, whose skin you are:

red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth, 

brown earth, we are earth.

Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their tribes, their families,

their histories, too. Talk to

them, listen to them. They are alive poems.

Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows

the origin of this universe.

Remember you are all people and all people

are you.

Remember you are this universe, and this universe is you.

Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you.

Remember language comes from this.

Remember the dance that language is, that life is.

Remember.