Latest / Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess / Celebrating Joy Harjo | Episode #390

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Celebrating Joy Harjo | Episode #390 · Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess

• 0:21
  Hello, and welcome to today's show, Legacy Living, Make Your Life Count.
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  I'm your host, Doctor Gloria. Gloria Burgess, international leadership expert and
• 0:36
  trusted advisor. Welcome to Legacy Living, Make your Life Count. I'm so
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  delighted that you joined me today. I want to give a big thank you
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  to those of you who are listening, and a great big shout out to
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  all of you listening around the world. I'm delighted and so grateful that you're
• 0:57
  here. I sure hope you're enjoying a fabulous day and that you're having a
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  fantastic week, because, you know what, in the grand song of the
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  universe, life is so short. It's short, sweet and very precious.
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  So I hope you're making a difference in your own life because when you do,
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  you also make a difference in somebody else's life. Now, a lot
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  of us, a lot of us really want to make our life count for
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  something, but we don't know how or how to begin. So folks ask
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  me, doctor Gloria, how do you make your life count? Well,
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  it's very simple, very simple. You make your life count day by day,
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  step by step, moment by moment, every single day. Three sixty
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  five, twenty four seven. Now, I'll say more about that later on.
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  Right now, it's time to step back and listen in that's right,
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  it's time to hit the pause button. It's time for today's episode, which
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  is all about music and poetry. Now, I want you to imagine that
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  we're in the same room, maybe it's your living room or kitchen, and
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  I'm sitting across the table from you. I'm pouring you a cup of tea
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  or coffee, and we're about to have a wonderful cup of what matters.
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  So again, today's focus is all about the power of music and poetry.
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  Music and poetry. Now, today's episode focuses on one of my favorite people
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  on the planet. Her name is Joy Harjo. Her life is what legacy
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  living, make your life count is all about. Now, most of us
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  know Miss Harjo as a wonderful poet and musician and activists. Well, I
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  know her as a poet and musician and activist extraordinaire. I also know Miss
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  Joy as a smart, funny and fiercely lit soul. For me, she
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  expanded and amplified my understanding about the intertwined power of music and poetry. And
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  she showed up in my life at a time where it made a difference for
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  me. Now, I had the good fortune to meet miss Joy Harjoe many
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  many years ago when we were both featured poets at the Scadget River Poetry Festival.
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  I recall that experience as though it happened just a few weeks ago.
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  I remember seeing her take the stage in her black shirt and black jeans and
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  black boots and turquoise earrings and turquoise beads around her neck. She had something
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  else around her neck as well, and that was her axe, right,
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  that was her saxophone. So when she took the stage, the first sound
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  I heard were not the words of her poems, but the music of her
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  soul, which is poetry too. I heard that music wailing from her saxophone.
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  And I play saxophone too, so I'm thinking, Wow, I've never
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  heard poems come out of the saxophone like that before. What I heard was
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  the poetry and the music of earth and sky and rivers and streams in the
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  voice of that saxophone. I heard Miss Harjoe screaming love songs to the sun,
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  and I heard her crooning nighttime memories to the moon. Oh yes,
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  I heard the music of poetry and the poetry of music. And they were
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  like two love dancing like there's no tomorrow. There was no light, there
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  was no separation between them. It was in Miss Harjo's music that I learned
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  about her poems, and in her poems that I learned about her music,
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  and I understood that both were as necessary as air. Did you know that
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  miss Harjo is the first poet from Indian country to become Poet Laureate of the
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  United States. Yeah, that's right, And she's the second poet, only
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  the second poet to hold that post for three consecutive terms. Now, Miss
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  Joy has many many worthy tributes, prizes and accolades. But the best way
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  to introduce this very special human being, this very special poet, is not
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  by sharing her many many accolades. The best way to introduce Joy Harjoe is
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  through her own words, through her own poetry, which is music, which
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  is music, which is music. The first poem I'd like to share is
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  called Remember Remember. Remember the sky you were born under. Know each of
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  the stars stories. Remember the Moon, Know who she is? I met
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  her in a bar once in Iowa City. Remember the Sun's birth at dawn.
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  That is the strongest point of time. Remember sundown and the giving away
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  tonight. Remember your birth, how your mother struggled to give you form and
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  breath. You are evidence of her life and her mother's and hers. Remember
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  your father, he is your life. Also remember the earth, whose skin
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  you are. Red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth,
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  brown earth. We are Earth. Remember the plants, trees, animal life,
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  who all have their tribes, their families, their histories. To talk
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  to them, listen to them, they are alive poems. Remember the wind.
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  Remember her voice, she knows the origin of the universe. I heard
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  her singing Kiawa war dance songs at the corner of Fourth and Central once.
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  Remember you are all people, and that all people are you. Remember you
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  are this universe, and that this universe is you. Remember all is in
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  motion, is growing is you. Remember all language comes from this. Remember
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  the dance. That language is, that life is Remember m Remember. In
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  this beautiful poem, Miss Joy distills so many lessons, lessons perhaps she learned
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  as a child, lessons we would do well to refresh for ourselves, Lessons
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  about the symbiotic relationship of human beings to all things, all essences, all
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  presences, all prayers, all people. The music of the repeated word.
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  Remember is a summons, a calling to us all to do just that.
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  Remember remember here where is that poem? Again? Remember Remember the sky that
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  you were born under. Know each of the star's stories. Remember the moon.
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  Know who she is. I met her in a bar once in Iowa
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  City. Remember the Sun's birth at dawn, that is the strongest point of
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  time. Remember sundown and the giving away tonight. Remember your birth, how
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  your mother struggled to give you form and breath. You are evidence of her
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  life, and her mother's and hers. Remember your father, he is your
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  life. Also, remember the earth, whose skin you are. Red earth,
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  black earth, yellow earth, white earth, brown earth. We are
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  Earth. Remember the plants, trees, animal life, who all have their
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  tribes, their families, their histories too. Talk to them, listen to
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  them. They are alive poems. Remember the wind. Remember her voice,
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  she knows the origin of the universe. I heard her singing kiawah war dance
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  songs at the corner of fourth and Central ones. Remember you are all people,
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  and that all people are you. Remember that you are this universe,
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  and that this universe is you. Remember all is in motion, is growing
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  is you? Remember all language comes from this remember the dance. That language
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  is, that life is remember Remember. Another one of my favorite poems by
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  Miss Harjo is one of her more recent poems. This one is from her
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  collection called Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings. I love the title of that book,
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  don't you Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings? And the title of this next
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  poem is called for calling the spirit back home from wandering the earth in its
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  human feet. Yeah, for calling the spirit back home from wandering the earth
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  in its human feet. Put down that bag of potato chips, that white
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  bread, that bottle of pop. Turn off that cell phone, computer and
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  remote control. Open the door, then close it behind you. Take a
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  breath offered by friendly winds. They travel the earth, gathering senses of plant
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  to clean, give it back with gratitude. If you sing, it will
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  give your spirit lift to fly to the star's ears and back. Acknowledge this
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  earth, who has cared for you since you were a dream, planting itself
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  precisely within your parents' desire. Let your moccasin feet take you to the encampment
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  of the guardians who have known you before time, who will be there after
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  time. They sit before the fire that has been there without time. Let
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  the earth stabilize your postcolonial insecure jitters. Be respectful of the small insects,
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  birds, and animal people who accompany you. Ask their forgiveness for the harm
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  we humans have brought down upon them. Don't worry. The heart knows the
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  way. Though there may be high rises, interstates, checkpoints, armed soldiers,
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  massacres, wars, and those who will despise you because they despise themselves.
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  The journey might take you a few hours a day, a year,
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  a few years, one hundred, a thousand, or even more. Watch
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  your mind, without training, it might run away and leave your heart for
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  the immense human feast set by the thieves of time. Do not hold regrets.
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  When you find your way to the circle, to the fire kept burning
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  by the keepers of your soul, you will be welcomed. You must clean
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  yourself with cedar sage or other healing plants. Cut the ties you have to
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  failure and shame. Let go the pain you are holding in your mind,
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  your shoulders, your heart, all the way to your feet. Let go
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  the pain of your ancestors. To make way for those who are heading in
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  our direction. Ask for forgiveness, Call upon the help of those who love
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  you. These helpers take many forms, animal element, bird, angel,
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  saint, stone, or ancestor. Call your spirit back. It may be
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  caught in corners, increases of shame, judgment, and human abuse. You
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  must call in a way that your spirit will want to return. Speak to
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  it as you would to a beloved child. Welcome your spirit back from its
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  wandering. It may return in pieces, in tatters. Gather them together.
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  They will be happy to be found after being lost for so long. Your
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  spirit will need to sleep awhile after it is bathed and given clean clothes.
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  Now you can have a party. Invite every one you know who loves you
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  and supports you. Keep room for those who have no place else to go,
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  make a giveaway, and remember, keep the speeches short. Then you
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  must do this, help the next person find their way through the dark.
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  Help the next person find their way through the dark. In other words,
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  be the difference who makes the difference in your own life and then in somebody
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  else's life. I love this poem because it is just filled with the music
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  of surrender, letting, go longing. The music is filled with poetry,
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  the poetry of refreshment, renewal, remorse, and belonging. And once again,
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  Miss Harjo reminds us that music and poetry. Poetry and music are absolutely
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  inseparable. Now, if we're walking through a gallery and taking in a painting
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  or sculpture, we can pause and consider that painting or sculpture for a good
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  long while. But the words of a poem, the notes of music,
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  they just fly away. They fly away from us as soon after they land
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  on our Well, if you like hearing poems like I do, I encourage
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  you to download my podcasts so you can listen again and again. And if
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  you'd like to hear poems read on the poet's own breath, you can go
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  to any good poetry website and listen to a recording. For example, you
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  can find audio and video recordings of Miss Harjo sharing some of her poems.
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  How cool is that? So here are two more poems by Joy Harjo.
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  These poems are also among my favorites. This first poem is called Grace.
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  Grace for Darlene Wind and James Welch. I think of Wind and her wild
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  ways, the year we had nothing to lose and lost it anyway in the
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  first country of the Fox. We still talk about that winter, how the
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  cold froze imaginary buffalo, and the stuffed horizon of snowbanks, the haunting voices
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  of the starved and mutilated, broke fences crashed our thermostat dreams, and we
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  couldn't stand it one more time. So once again we lost a winter in
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  stubborn memory, walked through cheap apartment walls, skated through fields of ghosts into
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  a town that never wanted us. In the epic search for grace. Like
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  coyote, like rabbit, we could not contain our terror and clowned our way
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  through a season of false midnights. We had to swallow that town with laughter,
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  so it go down easy as honey. And one morning, as the
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  sun struggled to break ice and our dreams had found us with coffee and pancakes
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  in a truck stop along Highway eighty, we found grace. I could say
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  Grace was a woman with time on our hands, or a white buffalo escaped
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  from memory, But in that dingy light, it was a promise of balance.
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  We once again understood the talk of animals, and spring was lean and
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  hungry with the hope of children and corn. I would like to say,
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  with grace, we picked ourselves up and walked into the spring fall. We
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  didn't. The next season was worse. You went home, home to Leech
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  Lake to work with the tribe, and I went south. And when I
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  am still crazy, I know there is something larger than the memory of a
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  dispossessed people. We have seen it. I know there is something larger than
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  the memory of a dispossessed people. We have seen it. Grace. This
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  next poem, This next poem is called Eagle Poem, Egle poem. To
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  pray you open your whole self to sky, to Earth, to sun,
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  to moon, to one whole voice that is you, and know there is
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  more that you can't see, can't hear, can't know except in moments steadily
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  growing, and in languages that aren't always sound, but other circles of motion,
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  Like Eagle that Sunday morning over salt River, circled in blue sky and
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  wind swept our hearts clean with sacred wings, we see you, see our
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  sun, and know that we must take the utmost care and kindness in all
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  things. Breathe in, knowing we are made of all this, and breathe
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  knowing we are truly blessed because we were born and die soon within a true
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  circle of motion, like eagle rounding out the morning inside us, we pray
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  that it will be done in beauty, in beauty, Eagle poem. Here
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  it is again to pray you open your whole self to sky, to earth,
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  to sun, to moon, to one whole voice that is you,
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  and know there is more that you can't see, can't hear, can't know
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  except in moments steadily growing, and in languages that aren't always sound, but
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  other circles of motion, Like eagle that Sunday morning over salt river, circled
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  in blue sky and wind swept our hearts clean with sacred wings, we see
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  you, see ourselves, and know that we must take the utmost care and
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  kindness in all things. Breathe in knowing we are made of all this,
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  and breathe knowing we are truly blessed because we were born and die soon within
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  a true circle of motion, like Ego rounding out the morning inside us,
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  we pray that it will be done in beauty, in beauty. Mm mm
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  hmm, Ego poem. This poem evokes memory, such deep memory and my
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  own soul, and I know I can hear the Holy Spirit whispering, be
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  still, Be still, Take a minute, take a moment to savor the
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  beauty of the day. Maybe it's the way the sun beams down on the
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  bright blue sea, or maybe it's a passing, a passing moment that we
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  pause so we can relish that exquisite glow of the evening sun, just before
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  it melts away into a bank of clouds or steams away into the silent sea.
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  I love this poem for so many reasons, and again, I think
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  the most significant reason is because it allows me. It helps me, It
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  encourages me, invites me to slow, to just be still, to press
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  pause, just for a moment, for a little while, to bathe in
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  beauty, and to forget, to let go of the busy, busy,
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  busyness of my life. The poem also invites me to remember to live in
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  the music and poetry and sanctity of the world. How we live is how
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  we do everything else right. How we parent, how we teach, how
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  we serve, how we lead in any aspect of our lives. To learn
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  more about Joiharjoe and her life of writing and music and service, be sure
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  to visit the Poetry Foundation website, and the website is www dot Poetry Foundation
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  dot org. Okay Poetry Foundation dot org. There you can read more about
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  Miss Joy's life, you can read her poems, and even hear her read
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  some of her own poems. You can also find information and inspiration on Miss
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  Joy's website, and that's www. Dot Joyharjo dot org. Okay Joyharjo dot
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  org. And you spell Harjo h a r jo Joiharjo dot org. Can
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  I just tell you something, Miss Joy? We love you, and we
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  celebrate you. We lift you up during National Poetry Month, during Women's History
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  Month, during Indigenous People's Month, and not only during those times, but
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  we celebrate you every single day. We celebrate you for looking into the wind,
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  for looking into the wind, for standing in the wind, for allowing
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  the wind to whirl through you. We celebrate you for looking into the face
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  of memory, for being a vessel for the voices of your ancestors and those
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  who are coming in our direction. We celebrate you for being a music maker
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  and a poetry baker, for your exquisite artistry and your amazing gifts of being
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  awake to life and turning that life, the good, the gracious, the
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  ugly, and the tragic into astonishing works of remembrance, of reverence, of
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  restoration, of redemption. We salute you and celebrate you for your astounding as
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  we express our deep, deep gratitude, and we thank you for showing us
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  the inseparable power of music and poetry and what the power of one person,
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  of one person who lives their life to make a difference is all about.
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  Right now, That's exactly what we talked about earlier, and I promise to
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  say more about how you can make your life count, So here we go.
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  You can make your life count in so many ways by being there for
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  someone who simply needs the precious, wonderful fragrance of your presence. Now what
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  do I mean by that? Well, maybe that person just needs you to
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  listen to them talk about their day, about how their dad is doing,
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  or maybe they need to talk about their relationship with a friend or a daughter
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  or son, and they don't want to just talk to anybody. What they
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  really need is you. Why because you listen with a smile in your heart,
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  You listen without having to jump in and give advice. You listen because
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  you really care, So you can make your life count in that kind of
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  way. It really is that simple. And remember, how we live is
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  how we serve how we live is how we teach and parent, It's how
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  we live and lead in any aspect of our lives. So let's remember to
• 33:52
  take good care of ourselves every single day. Three sixty five twenty seven.
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  Now, if you missed any part of this week's podcast, you can listen
• 34:07
  to the recording at your convenience. You can even listen on the go.
• 34:13
  Now, be sure to check us out at www dot talknetwork Radio dot com.
• 34:20
  Forward Slash Hosts, Forward Slash Legacy Living. Now, that's a mouthfuls.
• 34:27
  I'm gonna say it again, Talknetwork Radio dot com, Forward Slash Hosts,
• 34:31
  Forward Slash Legacy Living. Now, if you want to be the change
• 34:37
  you seek, be sure to listen to this podcast again and again and be
• 34:43
  sure to tell somebody. You can also find me on iTunes, Alexa,
• 34:49
  Audible, SoundCloud, tune in, iheartspriaker dot com, and so many other
• 34:54
  places you can learn more about my work and lego see living. Make your
• 35:00
  life count by visiting the Gloria Burgess website. That's right, that's me,
• 35:05
  Gloria Burgess, and that's g l O r I A Burgess b U R
• 35:10
  g e s s dot com. Now, as I've mentioned before. If
• 35:16
  you love to be inspired, you can subscribe to my inspirations right on my
• 35:21
  website. Just scroll down a little bit look on the right sidebar until you
• 35:25
  see the place to add your email address to subscribe to my weekly inspirations.
• 35:30
  It's that simple. Each week you will get a lovely, beautiful photograph and
• 35:37
  a short quotation that inspires you. Okay. You can also find me on
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  LinkedIn or Facebook, and on Facebook. You can find me at Facebook dot
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  com forward slash dr for doctor Dr Gloria Burgess, p h D. All
• 35:54
  Right Facebook dot com forward slash d r Gloria Burgess PhD forward slash. You
• 36:05
  can also hear and see me by visiting the tedex website and listening to one
• 36:10
  of my ted talks. Just type in my name and you can find me
• 36:15
  there. Now, before I close today, I want to thank each of
• 36:20
  you for being here, for allowing me to share a bit about my journey
• 36:24
  with what legacy living is all about, not just living and learning, but
• 36:30
  living and learning and serving so that you make a difference in your own life
• 36:35
  and in the lives of others. It's about being on purpose every single day.
• 36:42
  Three sixty five, twenty four seven. Legacy living is one of the
• 36:47
  many powerful ways to make your life count. I'm your host, doctor Gloria
• 36:55
  Gloria Burgess, and this is legacy living. Make your life count. Please
• 37:01
  join me again next time, and remember, don't just count the days in
• 37:08
  your life. Make the days in your life count. That's what legacy living
• 37:15
  is all about. Have a fantastic day, and remember make the days in
• 37:22
  your life count. God bless that's our show today. I'm your host,
• 37:40
  doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess. I hope you'll join me again next time. Until
• 37:47
  then, don't just count the days in your life. Make the days in
• 37:52
  your life count. That's what legacy living is all about. Here's to you.
• 38:00
  You have a fantastic day and be sure to make it a yes kind
• 38:04
  of day. Remember to celebrate the music of your life. Make the days
• 38:14
  in your life count.