Joy Harjo Sapulpa, Muskogee (Creek).
Joy Harjo (born May 9, 1951) is a Mvskoke poet, musician, and author. She is often cited as playing a formidable role in the second wave of what critic Kenneth Lincoln termed the Native American Renaissance of the late 20th century. She is the author of such books as Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings (2015), Crazy Brave (2012), and How We Became Humans: New and Selected Poems 1975 - 2002 (2004).
Joy Harjo was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1951 and is a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, with partial Cherokee descent. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa.
Known primarily as a poet and musician, Harjo has also taught at the college level, played alto saxophone with the band Poetic Justice, edited literary journals, and written screenplays.
In 1995, Harjo received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas.
In 2002, Harjo received the PEN Open Book Award, formerly known as the Beyond Margins Award for A Map to the Next World: Poetry and Tales. In 2008, she served as a founding member of the Board of Directors for the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, for which she currently serves as a member of its National Advisory Council.
Harjo joined the faculty of the American Indian Studies Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in January 2013.
Harjo is a highly praised writer and has written several works within the genres of poetry, books, and plays. Harjo's works often include themes such as defining self, the arts, justice, and several others. Harjo uses the oral tradition as a mechanism for portraying these issues, and believes that "written text is, for [her], fixed orality". Her use of the oral tradition is prevalent through various literature readings and musical performances conducted by Harjo. Her methods of oral tradition include story-telling, singing, and voice inflection in order to captivate the attention of her audiences. While reading poetry she claims that "[she] starts not even with an image but a sound," which is indicative of her oral traditions presenting themselves through performance.
As well as being an acclaimed author and poet, Harjo is also a musician. Harjo's mother was a singer, which influenced her to play the alto saxophone and the flute. She also sings and acts, frequently traveling with her group known as the Arrow Dynamics. She won the Native American Music Award in 2009 for best female artist and has received several other awards for her published CD's.
Harjo is currently an active follower of political and Native American affairs within the United States. Her website contains several blogs consisting of her stance on current political issues and her strong support for women's rights and equality. She is also an active member of the Muscogee Tribe and uses her poetry as "a voice of the indigenous people".*
*www.wikipedia.com
CHUEN
Kin 211: Blue Electric Monkey
I activate in order to play
Bonding illusion
I seal the process of magic
I am guided by the power of vision
I am a galactic activation portal
Enter me.
Within the cosmos every level of reality is present simultaneously.*
*Star Traveler's 13 Moon Almanac of Synchronicity, Galactic Research Institute, Law of Time Press, Ashland, Oregon, 2015-2016.
The Sacred Tzolk'in
Sahasrara Chakra (Dali Plasma)
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