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Joy Harjo

Joy Harjo Quotes

Poet

Joy Harjo is an American Indian poet born on May 9, 1951. Her work blends poetry, music, and visual art, exploring Native American culture, identity, and the female experience. Harjo is known for her unique voice and profound emotional expression, and her poetry has won numerous literary awards.

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All Poetry She Had Some Horses Joy Harjo Poem Life Death Loss Earth Heart Language Love Grief Imagery Mourning Stories Humanity Identity Poems Remember Stars

Famous Joy Harjo Quotes

“It was all connected, this poetics of listening, word making, and dancing. There was power to transform, to lighten the heaviness of the burden of being human. That's how I came to understand the power of poetry and music. It was a tool, but more than a tool. Words and music evoked a state of mind that lifted us up when racial and historical despair threatened.”

Life Poetry Language Music Enlightenment Transformation Words Sounds

Book:Catching the Light

Source: Catching the Light

“By listening we will understand who we are in this holy realm of words.”

Poetry Language Listening Poem Words

Book:Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings: Poems

Source: Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings: Poems

“You must speak in the language of justice.”

Poetry Language Justice Poem

Book:Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings: Poems

Source: Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings: Poems

“It was impossible to make it through the tragedy Without poetry. What are we without winds becoming words?”

Poetry Language Poem Tragedy Words

Book:An American Sunrise

Source: An American Sunrise

“That was struggle enough; however, there was another plane of consciousness on which I was fighting every night that I lay down to rest. As I slid into the borderlands between waking and sleeping, negative beings attempted to pull me into their darkness. I learned to escape them by using words to make a ladder to bring me back.”

Language Sleep Words Negativity

Book:Catching the Light

Source: Catching the Light

“Because Music is a language that lives in the spiritual realms, we can hear it, we can notate it and create it, but we cannot hold it in our hands”

Hands Spiritual Language Music Is Realms

Author:Joy Harjo

About the Author

Born: May 9, 1951
Known for: Poet
Quotes: 138

Related Topics

Poetry She Had Some Horses Joy Harjo Poem Life Death Loss Earth Heart Language Love Grief Imagery Mourning Stories Humanity Identity Poems Remember Stars

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

She Had Some HorsesRelated source material

Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings: PoemsRelated source material

An American SunriseRelated source material

Catching the LightRelated source material

In Mad Love and WarRelated source material

Crazy BraveRelated source material

How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems 1975-2002Related source material

The spiral of memory: interviewsRelated source material

A Map to the Next World: Poems and TalesRelated source material

The Pueblo Imagination: Landscape and Memory in the Photography of Lee MarmonRelated source material

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