For decades Joy Harjo has challenged the definition of what it means to be a poet. She’s the author of numerous celebrated books but is also a prolific musician and multi-faceted storyteller. A member of the Muscogee Nation, Harjo frequently chronicles Indigenous identity and social justice issues.
And she also served as the 23rd U.S. poet laureate—the first Native American to occupy the role. Harjo recently took a break from practicing the saxophone at her home in Tulsa, Oklahoma to speak with KNAU's Ryan Heinsius. This is an edited version of their conversation.
Harjo will read from her work Wed, March 18 at Northern Arizona University’s Prochnow Auditorium beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets are free but must be reserved through the NAU website.
Ryan Heinsius: Many people first heard you and your work when you became US Poet Laureate. How did the prominence of that role help you expand the reach of, uh, American letters and the poetry of this country’s first people?
Joy Harjo: I was the first Native U.S. poet laureate, there’s that, and then COVID set in within months after I started. So people were turning to—as they do during times of discord, like national, world discord, all of the levels of challenge that we, citizens of Earth and citizens of this country, and of our particular states and communities are going through—and then COVID on top of it all.
People were coming to poetry in droves. I mean, in a way, depending on it. In a way that hadn’t been in years, I think, in this country.
I thought it was important that people knew that there is more than one Native poet, so my project was to highlight other Native poets, to say, “Look, there’s a lot of us, and we’re all over this country.”
RH: You’ve described poems as ceremonial, opportunities for change. How has poetry been a vehicle for change in, in your life?
JH: Poetry gives voice to what often there are no words. There are no words, and so the big paradox then is that you use poetry with words when poetry is an exact, as kind of the most exact word science, and to give voice.
And I think that’s what drew me to it, and I became a poet because of Native rights movements and trying to find words. You know, I have always admired people who could speak. And I would be at a lot of rallies and places where some of our finest Native minds would stand up and speak about, even extemporaneously, on what was going on. And, and I always admired that, and I always stood in the back and just watched everything. And for me, poetry was my way to engage similar questions and concerns, but in my own way.
RH: You’re the first artist-in-residence at the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa. What’s it like to be a part of that artistic continuum, and what perspectives do you hope to add to the, the Dylan universe?
JH: I grew up in my generation hearing Dylan, you know, and then the protest songs, the late ‘60s. In Indian school, we’d listen to him a lot at Indian school. And he was one of the voices. But since being at the center, I’ve really gotten to know his music a lot better than I did before and have grown to really deeply admire him in a more studied way than I did before, and realize how important he was.
It’s really about creativity and trying to inspire creativity in our community and the community at large, or the public, to show the process of his creativity.
RH: You grew up during this explosion of Indigenous activism, and social and environmental justice has obviously played a central role in your work. Is art still the driver of social change like it once was?
JH: I think so. I tend to think of artists whether it’s performing artist, music, writing, storytelling, painting. They’re at the forefront of culture. You know, we’re kind of the drivers in a kind of way. I think of them like the point people of culture, of what’s out there that we can’t quite see or we feel. You know, it gives our future a place to live, our artistic creations.
RH: Joy Harjo, what a pleasure it’s been to talk to you. Thank you so much.
JH: Yeah. Well, thank you for the thoughtful interview. Appreciate it.
