U.S. poet l-6.e-te visits city
Joy Harjo shared observations, inspiration
During her event at Loveland’s Rialto Theater Saturday, Joy Harjo, the U.S. poet laureate, shared personal stories from her journey through poetry and bestowed advice to other creative people in the audience and watching the livestream.
Harjo is the 23rd poet laureate of the U.S. and is a member of the Mvskoke Nation and belongs to Oce Vpofv (Hickory Ground). She is also the only Native American person to ser ve as poet laureate and only the second poet to be appointed a third time to that title.
Harjo was brought to Loveland through the ef for ts of Loveland’s poet laureate, Veronica Patterson, and was presented by Aims Community College and its associated students, the Loveland Public Library, Arts in Public Places, the Loveland Museum and the Rialto Theater, as well as many others who Patterson thanked for helping set ever ything up.
Colorado’s poet laureate Bobby Lefebre also came to Loveland to read his poetr y Friday night.
At the beginning of the event, Patterson described Harjo as a poet, a “teller of tales,” saxophonist, flutist, singer, playwright and “historian we need.”
“She has shed light on the history of Native people in this country and others,” Patterson said. “A history we may have studied, but now can feel more deeply through her poetr y.”
Interviewed by Aims instructor and poet Evan Oakley, Harjo spent her hour discussion Saturday looking back on her time as a poet and creator and gave advice.
Harjo said that for creatives, using language ar tis-tically can allow someone to listen “beyond the structures of human mentality.
“You could have read all the books in the librar y and throughout histor y, but you are going to come up with limitations with that kind of material,” she said. “To get beyond that, where the connections, the unspeakable connections are laid, you get to the real truth of existence, which is often beyond our human minds.”
During their discussion, Oakley asked Harjo about her creative process as well as some of the themes and focuses of her written and published work. Harjo said her creative work, such as poetry and songwriting, is about discover y, adding that she feels you can tell someone is an artist if they are moving toward the
discovery of something larger than themselves.
Oakley also asked about Harjo’s discussions around the histor y of Native Americans and, particularly, the Trail of Tears. One of the ways she did this, Oakley pointed out, was by illustrating how old Emily Dickinson was when the Trail of Tears was going on simultaneously.
Harjo said she did it to make people think about their understanding of histor y, as many will let events like the Trail of Tears and the histor y of Native Americans drift off into a “distant, misty place.”
“The Trail of Tears happened under a government much like what has been going on (now),” she said. “A lot of people imagine us because we have been called primitives, barbarians … that we lost the land because we weren’t smart enough or didn’t deser ve it, we didn’t know, we weren’t civilized. No, we had places that people wanted.”
When asked what her advice would be for younger people, Harjo said it is important for people looking to pursue a life in creative work to know the reality they are going into. She said that while there is usually not a booth for poetry at college job fairs, the work that is done by poets, artists, writers and other creatives is important.
“We are all here to serve,” Harjo said. “It doesn’t matter what position you are in; whether you are the president or a king or fixing cars. We are all here to serve each other in the best way possible.”
Many of those in the audience recounted the inspiration and joy that her discussion brought to them. Sarah Cameron, a writer who lives at Artspace in Loveland, said it was great to hear Harjo speak about life as a creative and what goes into that life. She said one of the things she was par ticularly walking away with was the idea of knowing what you are going into.
“I would love to be a writer and I would love to be able to do the things she does across different mediums,” Cameron said. “I think it is important for creative people to figure that out; what does living a creative life look like for them?”
Married writers Amy and Collin Irish came all the way from Lakewood to see Harjo speak. Amy Irish said she was excited just to be in the same room as Harjo, and that her talk was inspiring. She also said that the space created during the event between Harjo and other creatives made her feel like part of a much larger community.
“When she talks about being a poet like being a calling, that is absolutely true.” Amy Irish said. “It makes me feel like I am in a community of other people who are doing something not because it is going to earn them money or career success, but because they feel called to it.”
Harjo said that her time in Loveland had been great since she got in Friday night, and the event was a great way to connect with people.
“It is so nice to see people in person,” Harjo told the Reporter-herald. “During this pandemic I have only done a couple of socially distanced events … and I have been doing so many virtual events. It was so nice for this event to see people and feel the resonance of a room. That makes a huge difference.”