Poet Warrior

by Joy Harjo

When I was with her, I knew I belonged, and that in this circle of belonging I had a place in the stories. Everyone needs this kind of place, this feeling of kinship; without it we are lost children wandering the earth our whole lives, without a sense of belonging. Even a country can be like a lost child because it may have no roots in the earth on which it has established itself.

Growing memories and the ability to access memory is a skill that allows access to eternity.

They all agreed that we are being brought to a place where we will once again remember how to speak with animals, plants, and life forms. We will once again know our humble place as two-legged humans. Humans are not the only ones with a spirit, they reminded. Nor are we more important than everyone else.

We are all here to serve each other. At some point we have to understand that we do not need to carry a story that is unbearable. We can observe the story, which is mental; feel the story, which is physical; let the story go, which is emotional; then forgive the story, which is spiritual, after which we use the materials of it to build a house of knowledge.

My failures have been my most exacting teachers. They are all linked by one central characteristic, and that is the failure to properly regard the voice of

inner truth. That voice speaks softly. It is not judgmental, full of pride, or otherwise loud. It does not deride, shame, or otherwise attempt to derail you. When I fail to trust what my deepest knowing tells me, then I suffer. The voice of inner truth, or the knowing, has access to the wisdom of eternal knowledge. The perspective of that voice is timeless.

A poet learns through injustice, wordlessness, and not being heard.

I do not want to be haunted by that which I cannot speak. Or by that which is by nature unspeakable.

There is no one way to God, no one correct spiritual path, no one way to write poetry. There is no one roadway, no one-way Bering Strait, no one kind of flowering plant, no one kind of tiger, no one way to knowledge. Diversity characterizes this planet, this galaxy, this universe.

The hurt led me down paths where I gave myself away for nothing.

FOR CALLING THE SPIRIT BACK FROM WANDERING THE EARTH IN ITS HUMAN FEET Put down that bag of potato chips, that white bread, that bottle of pop. Turn off that cell phone, computer, and remote control. Open the door, then close it behind you. Take a breath offered by friendly winds. They travel the earth gathering essences of plants to clean. Give back with gratitude. If you sing it will give your spirit lift to fly to the stars’ ears and back.

Acknowledge this earth who has cared for you since you were a dream planting itself precisely within your parents’ desire. Let your moccasin feet take you to the encampment of the guardians who have known you before time, who will be there after time. They sit before the fire that has been there without time. Let the earth stabilize your postcolonial insecure jitters. Be respectful of the small insects, birds, and animal people who accompany you. Ask their forgiveness for

the harm we humans have brought down upon them. Don’t worry. The heart knows the way though there may be high-rises, interstates, checkpoints, armed soldiers, massacres, wars, and those who will despise you because they despise themselves. The journey might take you a few hours, a day, a year, a few years, a hundred, a thousand or even more. Watch your mind. Without training it might run ...

When you find your way to the circle, to the fire kept burning by the keepers of your soul, you will be welcomed. You must clean yourself with cedar, sage, or other healing plant. Cut the ties you have to failure and shame. Let go the pain you are holding in your mind, your shoulders, your heart, all the way to your feet. Let go the pain of y...

Call upon the help of those who love you. Call yourself back. You might find yourself caught in corners and creases of shame, judgment, and human abuse. You must call in a way that your spirit will want to return. Speak to it as you would to a beloved child. Welcome your spirit back from its wandering. It will return in pieces, in tatte...

Your spirit will need to sleep awhile after it is bathed and given clean clothes. Now you can have a party. Invite everyone you know who loves you and supports you. Keep room for those who have no place else to go. Make a giveaway, and remember, keep the speeches short. Then...

WE KEEP OUR VIBRATION HIGHER by prayer, by kindness, by taking care of what we were given to do, by cleaning ourselves of negative thoughts that originate within or come from others, by cleaning with water, by humility, by being in the real world, away from concrete and square buildings, by speaking only that which holds truth.

So it is better to speak remembering we were never meant to survive

Maybe by the time you read this, we will have learned how to be human.