About Joy Harjo
Joy Harjo became the U.S Poet Laureate in 2019 and was appointed by the Library of Congress. She was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1951. She is a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation and author of ten volumes of poetry including An American Sunrise from WW Norton (2019) and Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings. She is currently a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and lines in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She started her profession as a visual artist thus art is her first love and she continues to paint. She also performs with a band called Areodynamics.
She was student of University of New Mexico and was also involved in the 60’s and early 70’s native rights, human rights and woman rights movements. Writing poetry is a doorway of Hope to her. She once said that “I think that poems are little force fields or little houses and I figured if I can build it nice enough, the spirit of poetry will come and live in it… We all are making our paths with our word.”
Joy Harjo is an immersion in risk and compassion. To her, poetry is the language of soul and is a Sunrise Ceremony where we need a moment to go out and thank nature. In her words, “Who will recall the upright song of this land? Bless the creation of new land, for out of chaos we will be compelled to remember to bless this land, the smallest one remembered the most humble one…”
Poem- Remember
Remember the sky that you were born under,
know each of the star’s stories.
Remember the moon, know who she is.
Remember the sun’s birth at dawn, that is the
strongest point of time. Remember sundown
and the giving away to night.
Remember your birth, how your mother struggled
to give you form and breath. You are evidence of
her life, and her mother’s, and hers.
Remember your father. He is your life, also.
Remember the earth whose skin you are:
red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth
brown earth, we are earth.
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their
tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them,
listen to them. They are alive poems.
Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the
origin of this universe.
Remember you are all people and all people
are you.
Remember you are this universe and this
universe is you.
Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you.
Remember language comes from this.
Remember the dance language is, that life is.
Remember.
Line by line interpretation
Remember the sky that you were born under,
know each of the star’s stories.
Remember the moon, know who she is.
Remember the sun’s birth at dawn, that is the
strongest point of time. Remember sundown
and the giving away to night.
This poem, is in a way poet telling readers to be thankful for this wonderful life given as a gift by nature. The poet urges readers to commemorate the life, nature and Earth. The first line of the poem reminds the sky you were born under (you referring to either readers or the person poet is addressing to). Joy Harjo uses sky as a reference to the Mankind to which we belong and stars as our ancestors who laid the milestones of human evolution. Their stories are to be cherished as they hold the historical roots of life. She believes that we always have so much to learn from our ancestors.
Moon is usually compared to women which describes the relationship between the Moon and Earth. Poetically, Moon being omniscient observes Earth and it’s people living in it. Also, we know that Sun and Moon have great significance to Earth. They are older and wise as Earth. Sun’s birth at dawn can also mean to a man’s most productive stage of life and where as sundown and giving away to night is the last stage of being old and embracing death.
Remember your birth, how your mother struggled
to give you form and breath. You are evidence of
her life, and her mother’s, and hers.
Poet makes an attempt to make readers introspect their life they have got. The struggles a mother undergoes in order to give birth to her child is mentioned in the poem. Each individual is definitely influenced by their mother in their lives, so do not forget their unconditional love and sacrifices. The knowledge of life is learnt from a mother and it is the mother who teaches lessons of life to her children. Thus poet says it is the legacy that comes from our mothers.
Remember your father. He is your life, also.
Remember the earth whose skin you are:
red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth
brown earth, we are earth.
It is not just a mother who plays a major role in life but also a father says poet. According to her, he is your life, because a father always teaches his children about the world and it’s businesses. The strength and competence comes from father to children which is important as well. The word also and full stop after it signifies this.
Next, talking about Earth poet wants us to remember the Earth whose skin we are. Here skin can either mean that we humans represent Earth as a whole or we just live in the crust layer of the Earth. The reference to different colors of Earth denotes the multicultural and different ethnicities in the world. In one of Joy Harjo’s interview she had said that ” I find my home and culture all over the world… My house is a red Earth, it could be the centre of the world…” The uniqueness of the culture comes from the diversity of the soil. So, poet connects these two aspects to show the diversity. Here We are Earth is an important expression, as it upholds the unity in diversity. She believes that we are part of Earth and nothing makes us rule it or conquer.
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their
tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them,
listen to them. They are alive poems.
Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the
origin of this universe.
Now Joy Harjo talks about what constitutes the Earth. It is not just humans who live in it but other organisms like plants, trees, animals. This line connects back to the line We are Earth. Each organism has its own story to say about its evolution and its contribution in framing this beautiful Earth. History is very essential that we humans should remember. It shapes and reminds the purpose of our lives.
Joy Harjo mentions all these as live poems. In one of her interview she quoted that “poetry is all about listening, then enjoying to know who you are and where you come from and your ancestors and what plants have fed you, how are they speaking with you…”. She also said that writing a poem is about listening and it is such a distilled language. Joy Harjo tries to minimize the thin line of difference between poetry and life. The next line connects to the second line of the poem Moon, similarly Wind is portrayed as women who has witnessed the origin of this universe.
Remember you are all people and all people
are you.
Remember you are this universe and this
universe is you.
Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you.
Remember language comes from this.
Remember the dance language is, that life is.
Remember.
In the last phase, the perspective from individual is shifted to collective. Poet says all people and you are same. The similar idea is represented in her other poem American Sunrise – ” Remember these lands aren’t our lands these lands aren’t your lands. We are this land”. So everything is interconnected in the views of poet. She had said once, “world is also inside us and we are inside the world, there might be difference but it all takes place in the same place”.
The concept of you being sky shifts to Universe at the end of the poem. The idea of interconnection is repeated here. And lastly the poet signifies on action, development, language and dance. To her, language comes from growth and movement that is change. And dance is life. Joy Harjo finds no difference among the variants of arts, she believes poetry, dance and paint are same.
Remember poem Analysis
Joy Harjo’s most poems reflect the theme of “some path to become more human”. The poem urges to be respectful and be thankful for everything. It is written in the context of the love, nature and origin. A tribute to the creator of the universe. The poem also speaks about the relationship between human life and nature, existence, importance of life and worthfulness.
Her poems and writings are informed by a politics of witness, witness to the injustice as served by Anglos on native American peoples and to ways of injustice mestasizes and to domestic violence, sexism, environmental degradation, all forms of abuse and also extends hope and kind joy, witnesses reality and spirit of healing as one who has put down the tools of War and taken up the craft of song.
In the poem Remember, figurative language has been used and it is a free verse with short sentences. Though the perspective in the initial is individual it shifts to broader aspect of Sky and later to Universe. Joy Harjo enters her poetry by horseback, articulating from a subterranean region something that’s unconscious.
Themes
- The central idea of remember poem is about understanding that we humans need to respect all that the nature gives us, and be thankful for it. Joy Harjo stresses the need for us to remember gifts we have been given and to not take it for granted.
- Earth, Creator, Nature, Humanity and Mankind are mostly focused on in this poem.
Poetic devices
- Sun’s birth, Moon and wind.
Repetition: ( Stresses on the intention)
- The word Remember is used fifteen times in the poem.
- Other words which are repeated the most are Earth, Mother, People, Universe and You.
Tone :
Tone is serious and urges readers to be thankful and not to be taken for granted.
