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If we cry more tears we will ruin the land with salt instead let's praise that which would distract us with despair. Make a song for death, a song for yellow teeth and bad breath

Joy Harjo

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Joy Harjo
Age: 73
Born: 1951
Born: May 9
Climate Activist
Musician
Poet
Screenwriter
Teacher
Writer
Tulsa
Oklahoma
Instead
Ruins
Land
Breath
Song
Breaths
Death
Teeth
Make
Despair
Distract
Would
Cry
Ruin
Praise
Salt
Tears
Yellow

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My sister accommodates me, never reproaches me with her doctrine, never tries to change me. She accepts and loves me, despite our differences.
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The saxophone is so human. Its tendency is to be rowdy, edgy, talk too loud, bump into people, say the wrong words at the wrong time, but then, you take a breath all the way from the center of the earth and blow. All that heartache is forgiven. All that love we humans carry makes a sweet, deep sound and we fly a little.
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There is no separation. We are all from the same place. As long as there is respect and acknowledgement of connections, things continue working. When that stops we all die.
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I was born with eyes that can never close.
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At least I've had to come to that in my life, to realize that this stuff called failure, this stuff, this debris of historical trauma, family trauma, you know, stuff that can kill your spirit, is actually raw material to make things with and to build a bridge. You can use those materials to build a bridge over that which would destroy you.
Joy Harjo
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But come here, Fear. / I am alive! / And you are so afraid / of dying.
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My house is the red earth . . . .
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A story matrix connects all of us. There are rules, processes, and circles of responsibility in this world. And the story begins exactly where it is supposed to begin. We cannot skip any part.
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My father told me that some voices are so true they can be used as weapons, can maneuver the weather, change time. He said that a voice that powerful can walk away from the singer if it is shamed. After my father left us, I learned that some voices can deceive you. There is a top layer and there is a bottom, and they don't match.
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I have more questions than answers in this world as do most poets and writers. The field of memory we exist in is absolutely encompassing and is both a question and answer. It is memory that provides the heart with impetus, fuels the brain, and propels the corn plant from seed to fruit.
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My generation is now the door to memory. That is why I am remembering.
Joy Harjo
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Remember that you are all people and that all people are you.
Joy Harjo
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I believe that poets have to be inside their poems somewhere, or the poem won't work.
Joy Harjo
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Perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table, while we are laughing and crying, eating of the last sweet bite.
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It's important as a writer to do my art well and do it in a way that is powerful and beautiful and meaningful, so that my work regenerates the people, certainly Indian people, and the earth and the sun. And in that way we all continue forever.
Joy Harjo
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I know I walk in and out of several worlds each day.
Joy Harjo
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It is memory that provides the heart with impetus, fuels the brain, and propels the corn plant from seed to fruit.
Joy Harjo
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True power does not amass through the pain and suffering of others.
Joy Harjo