Poems and Other Writings

This page is dedicated to "singing" the landscapes of our inner ecology and earth to life. Each month, together we'll explore a new poem or piece of writing. We'll see how language that focuses on the particulars of the outer wilderness, can return us to the truth of our inner wilderness.

Please feel free to ponder the questions elicited by the poem below. Memorize a stanza or two. Write a poem of your own. And, if you like, please email me with your own observations, poetry, and thoughts. I'd love to hear from you.

August 2010

Fire

a woman can’t survive
by her own breath alone
she must know
the voices of mountains
she must recognize
the foreverness of blue sky
she must flow
with the elusive
bodies
of night wind women
who will take her into
her own self

look at me
i am not a separate woman
i am a continuance
of blue sky
i am the throat
of the sandia mountains
a night wind woman
who burns
with every breath
she takes

© Joy Harjo

• What do you know the voices of? Trees? Mountains? Rivers? What do these voices tell you about yourself and how to live?
• What do you recognize as essential to your own survival? Write a list of 100 thing you need to survive. They can include everything from food and air, to more abstract notions of love and friendship. Don't worry if you repeat things on your list, this will reveal to you what's most important.
• Begin a poem with the words, "I am the..." Allow your imagination to lead the way.

Previous poems:
June 2010
March 2010
December 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
June-July 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007


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