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.
Joy HarjoRead
A story matrix connects all of us._x000D_ There are rules, processes, and circles of responsibility in this world. And the story begins exactly where it is supposed to begin. We cannot skip any part.
Interpretation
The interconnectedness of our stories emphasizes the importance of every individual's journey.
Joy Harjo's quote highlights the idea that each person's story is part of a larger narrative that connects us all. It suggests that we are governed by certain rules and responsibilities, and our personal experiences unfold in a specific order that is necessary for our growth and understanding. There is an inherent value in every part of our journey, and skipping steps would undermine the significance of our collective experience.
In practice
In a motivational speech addressing the importance of personal experiences.
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.
It's important as a writer to do my art well and do it in a way that is powerful and beautiful and meaningful, so that my work regenerates the people, certainly Indian people, and the earth and the sun. And in that way we all continue forever.
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.
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.
I don't like this romanticization of Indian people in which Indian people are looked at as spiritual saviors, as people who have always taken care of the land. We're human beings. But I think different cultures have developed different aspects of humanness.
Humans are vulnerable and rely on the kindnesses of the earth and the sun; we exist together in a sacred field of meaning.
As so often happens in philosophy, clever people accept a false general principle on a priori grounds and then devote endless labour and ingenuity to explaining away plain facts which obviously conflict with it.
After all, I believe that legends and myths are largely made of 'truth'.
Homicide, /n./ The slaying of one human by another. There are four kinds of homicide: felonious, excusable, justifiable, and praiseworthy, but it makes no great difference to the person slain whether he died by one kind or another - the classification is for the advantage of the lawyers.
Everybody loves you when you're six foot in the ground.
Sometimes we find ourselves walking through life blindfolded, and we try to deny that we're the ones who securely tied the knot.
Heaven is blest with perfect rest, but the blessing of Earth is toil.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.