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Joy Harjo on Poetry

born 1951 United States

← All quotes by Joy Harjo

6 quotes

The most powerful poetry is birthed through cracks in history, through what is broken and unseen.

Catching the Light (2022)

Poetry and living — they’re often the same thing.

with On Being (2021)

Poetry has given me a voice, a way to speak, and it has certainly enriched my vision so that I can see more clearly.

with Bill Moyers (1989)

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.

The First Native American U.S. Poet Laureate on How Poetry Can Counter Hate” in Time Magazine (2019)

There were no Native names in the American book of poetry when I began writing poetry, though there are many.

An Interview with Joy Harjo, U.S. Poet Laureate” in Poets.org (2019)

Each of us is descended from poetry ancestors. It’s the same for any art, any occupation. There is a lineage of style, knowledge and culture passed from generation to generation, one artist to another. Ultimately all poetry is related in the family tree of poetry…

An Interview with Joy Harjo, U.S. Poet Laureate” in Poets.org (2019)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Joy Harjo (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.