116 Time Sept. 2–9, 20199 Questions‘
WE NEED
SOMETHING
TO COUNTER
THE HATE
SPEECH, THE
DIVISIVENESS,
AND IT’S
POSSIBLE
WITH POETRY
’
history. You can train your ears to the
earth. You can train your ears to the
wind. It’s important to listen and then
to study the world, like astronomy
or geology or the names of birds. A
lot of poets can be semihistorians.
Poetry is very mathematical. There’s
a lot in the theoretical parts that is
similar. Quantum physicists remind
me of mystics. They are aware of
what happens in timelessness, though
they speak of it through theories
and equations.What history inspired An American
Sunrise?
It came directly out of standing and
looking out into the woods of what
had been our homelands in the South-
east before Andrew Jackson removed
us to Indian territory. I stood there and
looked out, and I heard, “What did you
learn here?”What are your plans as the poet
laureate? I can remind people that they
use poetry, go to poetry, frequently,
and may not even know they are. A lot
of song lyrics are poetry. They go to
poetry for a transformational moment,
to speak when there are no words
to speak.As a singer and saxophonist in the
Arrow Dynamics Band, do you plan
to incorporate music in the role? I
always play or perform music with my
poetry. When poetry came into the
world, it did not arrive by itself, but it
came with music and dance.How would you describe the state
of poetry? Audiences for poetry are
growing because of the turmoil in
our country— political shifts, climate
shifts. When there’s uncertainty, when
you’re looking for meaning beyond this
world—that takes people to poetry.
We need something to counter the
hate speech, the divisiveness, and it’s
possible with poetry.
—Olivia B. WaxmanY
ou found your voice as a poet
in 1973, a time when a lot of
Americans found theirs. How
much was that a factor? I didn’t set
out to be a writer. I was shy, quiet, and I
loved art because I didn’t have to speak
with anyone. At one point, my spirit said,
“You have to learn how to speak.” I think
poetry came to me because there was a
lot of change. In 1973, I was 23, a mother
of two children, and I was in a very active
Kiva club [that was raising awareness
about Native American issues] during
the native- rights movement. We
were dispersed Americans, totally
disregarded, and I felt our voices needed
to be heard. I started writing poetry out
of a sense of needing to speak not only
for me but all Native American women.What do people get wrong about
Native Americans? A lot of images
[of Native Americans] are based on
fairy tales or Wild West shows. We are
human beings, not just people who
have been created for people’s fantasy
worlds. There’s not just one Native
American. We’re diverse by community,
by land, by language, by culture. In fact,
we go by our tribal names, and there are
573 tribal nations.Do you write every day? I’m often
writing something almost every day. I
keep journals: one on the computer, one
for dreams, one for general observations
and overheard things, and one for learn-
ing jazz standards, so I look up the his-
tory of the song, then I rehearse it and
make notes.What time of day do you write best?
When the airwaves are clear, either really
early—like 6 a.m., 7 a.m., before any-
thing is said—or really late. It’s impor-
tant to have a doorway open to the place
without words, and that happens more
easily when you’ve come from dreaming.What advice would you give poets?
It’s about learning to listen, much like
in music. You can train your ears toJoy Harjo The first Native American U.S.
poet laureate on her new book, An American
Sunrise, and the state of poetry