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Quote by Joy Harjo

“A story matrix connects all of us. 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.”

Quote by Joy Harjo

Author

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. more

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“My father told me that some voices are so true they can be used as weapons, can maneuver the weather, change time. He said that a voice that powerful can walk away from the singer if it is shamed. After my father left us, I learned that some voices can deceive you. There is a top layer and there is a bottom, and they don't match.”

Ifs Said Used Father Left Voice Walks Powerful Weapons Bottom Singers Weather Layers Deceiving

Author:Joy Harjo

“In Isleta the rainbow was a crack in the universe. We saw the barest of all life that is possible. Bright horses rolled over and over the dusking sky.”

Universe Saws Sky Horse Cracks Rainbow

Author:Joy Harjo

“True power does not amass through the pain and suffering of others.”

Inspirational Doe Pain Suffering Pain And Suffering True Power Suffering Of Others

Author:Joy Harjo

“My generation is now the door to memory. That is why I am remembering.”

Remember Memories Generations Doors My Generation

Author:Joy Harjo

“I listen to the gunfire we cannot hear, and begin this journey with the light of knowing the root of my own furious love.”

Light My Own Knowing Journey Roots Furious

Book:In Mad Love and War

Source: In Mad Love and War

“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

“I can hear the sizzle of newborn stars, and know anything of meaning, of the ﬁerce magic emerging here. I am witness to ﬂexible eternity, the evolving past, and I know we will live forever, as dust or breath in the face of stars, in the shifting pattern of winds.”

Knows I Can Past Faces Stars Forever Magic Wind Eternity Breaths Patterns Dust Witness Evolve Shifting Emerging Live Forever Here I Am Newborn

Author:Joy Harjo

“Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their families, their histories too. Talk to them, listen to them. They are alive poems.”

Remember Animal Alive Tree Plant Plant A Tree Animal Life

Book:How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems 1975-2002

Source: How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems 1975-2002

“At least I've had to come to that in my life, to realize that this stuff called failure, this stuff, this debris of historical trauma, family trauma, you know, stuff that can kill your spirit, is actually raw material to make things with and to build a bridge. You can use those materials to build a bridge over that which would destroy you.”

Knows Use Spirit Stuff Realizing Materials Historical Trauma Bridges Raw Materials Debris

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“There is no separation. We are all from the same place. As long as there is respect and acknowledgement of connections, things continue working. When that stops we all die.”

Long Dies Connections Separation Acknowledgement

Author:Joy Harjo