![\"Joy_Harjo\"](\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2014\/03\/Joy_Harjo.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/a>March 31, 2014
\n<\/a>Joy Harjo<\/a><\/article>\n
\nShe hears the stars gossip with the sun, sees the moon washing her lean
\ndarkness with water electrified by prayers. All over the world there are those
\nwho can\u2019t sleep, those who never awaken.My granddaughter sleeps on the breast of her mother with milk on
\nher mouth. A fly contemplates the sweetness of lactose.<\/p>\n
Her father is wrapped in the blanket of nightmares. For safety he
\napproaches the red hills near Thoreau. They recognize him and sing for
\nhim.<\/p>\n
Her mother has business in the house of chaos. She is a prophet dis-
\nguised as a young mother who is looking for a job. She appears at the
\ndoor of my dreams and we put the house back together.<\/p>\n
Panther watches as human and animal souls are lifted to the heavens by
\nrain clouds to partake of songs of beautiful thunder.<\/p>\n
Others are led by deer and antelope in the wistful hours to the vil-
\nlages of their ancestors. There they eat cornmeal cooked with berries
\nthat stain their lips with purple while the tree of life flickers in the sun.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s October, though the season before dawn is always winter. On the
\ncity streets of this desert town lit by chemical yellow travelers
\nsearch for home.<\/p>\n
Some have been drinking and intimate with strangers. Others are
\nescapees from the night shift, sip lukewarm coffee, shift gears to the
\nother side of darkness.<\/p>\n
One woman stops at a red light, turns over a worn tape to the last
\nchorus of a whispery blues. She has decided to live another day.<\/p>\n
The stars take notice, as do the half-asleep flowers, prickly pear and
\nchinaberry tree who drink exhaust into their roots, into the earth.<\/p>\n
She guns the light to home where her children are asleep and may
\nnever know she ever left. That their fate took a turn in the land of
\nnightmares toward the sun may be untouchable knowledge.<\/p>\n
It is a sweet sound.<\/p>\n
The panther relative yawns and puts her head between her paws.
\nShe dreams of the house of panthers and the seven steps to grace.
\nJoy Harjo has published seven books of poetry. Her most recent publication is a memoir, Crazy Brave (W. W. Norton, 2012), winner of the PEN USA Literary Award for Creative Non-Fiction.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thursday \u00a0 March 27 \u00a0– \u00a0Insomnia and the Seven Steps to Grace The March 31 issue of the national Jesuit journal America\u00a0publishes its first Joy Harjo poem. \u00a0Harjo brings loss and despair, and the resonant humor of embarrassment, into tight, … Continue reading