Joy Harjo, Poet Laureate of the United States Celebrating National Poetry Month 2021

Celebrating National Poetry Month 2021

oy Harjo is the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States and only the 2nd to serve three consecutive terms. She is a member of the Mvskoke Nation and belongs to Oce Vpofv (Hickory Ground) in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she was born May 9, 1951.


Ms. Harjo’s poetry is earthy, passionate, tender, deeply personal, timeless and timely, and ultimately universal. “Her work is often autobiographical, informed by the natural world, and above all preoccupied with survival and the limitations of language.”1 In addition to poetry, Ms. Harjo is an accomplished flutist, saxophone player, dramatist, singer, and painter.
 
She once commented, “I feel strongly that I have a responsibility to all the sources that I am: to all past and future ancestors, to my home country, to all places that I touch down on and that are myself, to all voices, all women, all of my tribe, all people, all earth, and beyond that to all beginnings and endings. In a strange kind of sense [writing] frees me to believe in myself, to be able to speak, to have voice, because I have to; it is my survival.”1

 Eagle Poem3
 By Joy Harjo

To pray you open your whole self
To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon
To one whole voice that is you.
And know there is more
That you can’t see, can’t hear;
Can’t know except in moments
Steadily growing, and in languages
That aren’t always sound but other
Circles of motion.
Like eagle that Sunday morning
Over Salt River. Circled in blue sky
In wind, swept our hearts clean
With sacred wings.
We see you, see ourselves and know
That we must take the utmost care
And kindness in all things.
Breathe in, knowing we are made of
All this, and breathe, knowing
We are truly blessed because we
Were born, and die soon within a
True circle of motion,
Like eagle rounding out the morning
Inside us.
We pray that it will be done
In beauty.
In beauty.

An act of Congress in 1985 established the position of the Poet Laureate. About half of the laureates have created a signature project that raises national appreciation of poetry. Ms. Harjo’s project is Living Nations, Living Words which gathers “a sampling of work by 47 contemporary Native poets from across the nation to show that Native people and poets have vital and unequivocal roots in the United States. The project features an interactive Story Map and a newly developed audio collection.”2


In addition to her responsibilities as Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, holds a Tulsa Artist Fellowship, directs For Girls Becoming, an arts mentorship program for young Mvskoke women, and is a founding board member and Chair of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation.


Ms. Harjo has a very busy schedule promoting poetry including the following opportunity in southern California: Celebrating Earth Day with U.S. Poet Laureate at the Skirball Cultural Center on Thursday, April 22, at 7:00 PM. This event is free online, registration required (Register Here ).4


Sources
1 Poetry Foundation. Joy Harjo. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/joy-harjo. Apr 15, 
  2021. 


2 Library of Congress. Poet Laureate Projects. https://www.loc.gov/programs/poetry-and-
literature/poet-laureate/poet-laureate-projects/. Apr 15, 2021.


3 Joy Harjo, “Eagle Poem” from In Mad Love and War. Copyright © 1990 by Joy Harjo. From https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46545/eagle-poem, Apr 15, 2021.


4 Joy Harjo. Celebrating Earth Day. https://www.joyharjo.com/celebrating-earth-day-with-u-s-poet-lauareate. Apr 15, 2021.


Prepared by
Cheryl Stewart, MOTAL Board Member
We Educate People About Education