Joy Harjo
Joy Harjo
Joy Harjois a Mvskoke poet, musician, and author. She is often cited as playing a formidable role in the second wave of what critic Kenneth Lincoln termed the Native American Renaissance of the late 20th century. She is the author of such books as Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings, Crazy Brave, and How We Became Humans: New and Selected Poems 1975 - 2002...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth9 May 1951
CountryUnited States of America
again death equal present
I've been present at birth, and death is just as present and in equal balance. And I've been present at death, and birth is just as present, again in equal balance.
arts bottom follow poetry spirit
Bottom line, I have to follow what my soul says, or my spirit. And my spirit said that poetry and the arts should be without borders, should be without political borders.
certainly influenced life loved spent work
I've always loved the desert. I've spent most of my life in the Southwest. It's certainly influenced my work. I used to dream about it when I was young.
love
Sometimes, I think, in order to get to something that we really want or we really love or something that needs to be realized, that we're tested.
mind places poetry whether
You just go where poetry is, whether it's in your heart or your mind or in books or in places where there's live poetry or recordings.
line
I come from a long line of revolutionaries.
member sort
I am a member of the Muskogee people. I'm a poet, a musician, a dreamer of sorts, a questioner. Like everyone else, I'm looking for answers of some sort or the other.
birthplace ceremonial congo originally people
Most people don't know that Congo Square was originally a Muscogee ceremonial ground... in New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz.
ancestors history include indian largest leaders refused sign stick treaty united war
My ancestors include Monahwee, who was one of the leaders in the Red Stick War, which was the largest Indian uprising in history, and Osceola, who refused to sign a treaty with the United States.
cannot good hide saxophone teacher
When you play a sax, that saxophone is irreverent. It's noisy; it's a trickster... you cannot hide the saxophone in your hands, so it's a good teacher.
supposed
We're all given something to do. And when we don't follow what we're supposed to do, we always know when we're off track.
listen playing radio solo sound trumpet until
The radio is playing jazz, and I listen to the sound of the trumpet playing a solo until I become that sound.
changing form kept running took
It took me 14 years to write 'Crazy Brave' because I kept changing the form and I also kept running away from the story. I said I don't really want to write about myself. But it's about writing about memory.
act amazes amazing bringing create creative forth music poetry whether
The creative act amazes me. Whether it's poetry, whether it's music, it's an amazing process, and it has something to do with bringing forth the old out into the world to create and to bring forth that which will rejuvenate.