“We’re all called in our human being-ness to embody what a warrior embodies, and that’s someone who’s awake and is listening and is moving through the world listening.”
Paul Holdengräber is joined by poet Joy Harjo on episode 153 of The Quarantine Tapes. Joy and Paul discuss the relationship between different art forms as Joy talks about her poetry, music, and painting practices.
Joy speaks beautifully about the relationship between memory and poetry. She tells stories about her relationship to robins, talks about her upcoming memoir Poet Warrior, and shares a song from her latest album, titled I Pray for My Enemies, due out March 5th on Sunyata Records.
Here is a link to Joy’s poem with the same title:
I Pray for My Enemies, by Joy Harjo
Joy Harjo is an internationally renowned performer and writer of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. She is serving her second term as the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States.
The author of nine books of poetry, including the highly acclaimed An American Sunrise, several plays and children's books, and two memoirs, Crazy Brave and Poet Warrior: A Call for Love and Justice, her many honors include the Ruth Lily Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the Poetry Foundation, the Academy of American Poets Wallace Stevens Award, two NEA fellowships, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. As a musician and performer, Harjo has produced six award-winning music albums including her newest, I Pray for My Enemies (Sunyata Records). She is Executive Editor of the anthology When the Light of the World was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through — A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry and the editor of Living Nations, Living Words: An Anthology of First Peoples Poetry, the companion anthology to her signature Poet Laureate project. She is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, Board of Directors Chair of the Native Arts & Cultures Foundation, and holds a Tulsa Artist Fellowship. She lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Credits:
Paul Holdengraber - Co-Creator, Host, OLA Director
Anthony Audi - Co-Creator, Researcher, OLA Director
Alejandro Cohen - Co-Creator, Producer, Composer
Christian Pitt - Production Coordinator
Erin Cooney - Copy, Production
Dublab Team