{"id":3079,"date":"2019-09-10T00:00:21","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T04:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=3079"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:42:58","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:42:58","slug":"sept-10-mary-tobacco-and-joy-harjo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2019\/09\/10\/sept-10-mary-tobacco-and-joy-harjo\/","title":{"rendered":"Sept 10 – Mary Tobacco and Joy Harjo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tuesday, September 10 \u00a0\u201cTalking with the Sun\u201d & \u201cThe high plains of Pine Ridge, SD\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mary, a Lakota soul friend, and Joy Harjo, National Poet Laureate, are friends. \u00a0 They share a love of the land and sky, an intimate understanding of the beauty and the wearing fatigue of poverty so often marked with deep racism but also with the mystical surprises that close family ties offer. \u00a0 This morning, I was listening for a voice I had not heard recently. \u00a0 I found Joy Harjo, soul friend and strong poet. \u00a0Two years ago, she sent me a new book,\u00a0Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings<\/u>. \u00a0 On September 2,\u00a02016, I found my first poem there, \u201cTalking with the Sun.\u201d \u00a0How does a grandmother carry her fourth granddaughter out into the sun on a rainy New York Times Square morning?<\/p>\n

You could read the poem with pauses. \u00a0 Or you may imagine driving along that highway as the sunset shows off a front being pushed East by the storm\u2019s energy.<\/p>\n

Have a blest week,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today\u2019 Post<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Joy Harjo \u00a0\u201cTalking with the Sun\u201d<\/p>\n

I believe in the sun.
\nIn the tangle of human failures of fear, greed, and
\nforgetfulness, the sun gives me clarity.
\nWhen explorers first encountered my people, they called us
\nheathens, sun worshippers.
\nThey didn\u2019t understand that the sun is a relative, and
\nilluminates our path on this earth.<\/p>\n

After dancing all night in a circle we realize that we are a
\npart of a larger sense of stars and planets dancing with us
\noverhead.
\nWhen the sun rises at the apex of the ceremony, we are
\nrenewed.
\nThere is no mistaking this connection, though Walmart
\nmight be just down the road.
\nHumans are vulnerable and rely on the kindnesses of the
\nearth and sun; we exist together in a sacred field of
\nmeaning.<\/p>\n

Our earth is shifting. \u00a0We can all see it.
\nI hear from my Inuit and Yupik relatives up north that
\neverything has changed. \u00a0It\u2019s so hot; there is not enough
\nwinter.
\nAnimals are confused. Ice is melting.<\/p>\n

The quantum physicists have it right; they are beginning to
\nthink like Indians: everything is connected dynamically
\nat an intimate level.
\nWhen you remember this, then the current wobble of the
\nearth makes sense. \u00a0How much more oil can be drained,
\nWithout replacement; without reciprocity?<\/p>\n

I walked out of a hotel room just off Times Square at dawn
\nto find the sun.
\nIt was the fourth morning since the birth of my fourth
\ngranddaughter.
\nThis was the morning I was to present her to the sun, as a
\nrelative, as one of us. \u00a0It was still dark, overcast as I walked
\nthrough Times Square.
\nI stood beneath a twenty-first century totem pole of symbols
\nof multinational corporations, made of flash and neon.<\/p>\n

The sun rose up over the city but I couldn\u2019t see it amidst the
\nrain.
\nThough I was not at home, bundling up the baby to carry
\nher outside,
\nI carried this newborn girl within the cradleboard of my
\nheart.
\nI held her up and presented her to the sun, so she would be
\nrecognized as a relative,
\nSo that she won\u2019t forget this connection, this promise,
\nSo that we all remember, the sacredness of life.<\/p>\n

Joy Harjo<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Highway 18, \u00a0Pine Ridge, SD \u00a0sunset with a storm front<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday, September 10 \u00a0\u201cTalking with the Sun\u201d & \u201cThe high plains of Pine Ridge, SD\u201d Mary, a Lakota soul friend, and Joy Harjo, National Poet Laureate, are friends. \u00a0 They share a love of the land and sky, an intimate … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3079"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3079"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3081,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3079\/revisions\/3081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}