Joy Harjo Quotes

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Joy Harjo

Profession : Poet

Birth : May 9, 1951

I don't like this romanticization of Indian people in which Indian people are looked at as spiritual saviors, as people who have always taken care of the land. We're human beings. But I think different cultures have developed different aspects of humanness.

Joy Harjo

I started writing to save my life.

Joy Harjo

Bottom line, I have to follow what my soul says, or my spirit. And my spirit said that poetry and the arts should be without borders, should be without political borders.

Joy Harjo

We're all given something to do. And when we don't follow what we're supposed to do, we always know when we're off track.

Joy Harjo

You just go where poetry is, whether it's in your heart or your mind or in books or in places where there's live poetry or recordings.

Joy Harjo

The radio is playing jazz, and I listen to the sound of the trumpet playing a solo until I become that sound.

Joy Harjo

My mother wrote lyrics and sang but was overtaken by life with four children and worked.

Joy Harjo

It took me 14 years to write 'Crazy Brave' because I kept changing the form and I also kept running away from the story. I said I don't really want to write about myself. But it's about writing about memory.

Joy Harjo