Contemporary · Mvskoke/Creek · Native American
Joy Harjo
“Remember the sky that you were born under, know each of the star's stories.”
Mvskoke (Creek) Nation poet, musician, and the first Native American to serve as United States Poet Laureate (2019–2022, three terms). Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1951. She did not begin to write seriously until her twenties, when, she has said, the poems began to come "from a place older than me." Her work weaves Mvskoke ceremony, jazz saxophone (she plays), and the long memory of forced removal — the Trail of Tears her ancestors walked from Alabama to Oklahoma. As Laureate she launched *Living Nations, Living Words*, the first map of Native poets across the United States. Core teaching: remember. The land remembers you. Your ancestors remember you. Your descendants are watching. Sing anyway. Key works: *She Had Some Horses*, *In Mad Love and War*, *An American Sunrise*, *Crazy Brave* (memoir), *Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings*, *Poet Warrior*.
Known for
- Poetry of survival
- Honoring memory
- Naming what is sacred
Best for
- Grief & Loss
- Forgiveness
- Gratitude & Joy
Their signature question
“What prayer is hiding inside your grief?”