An Art of Saying: Joy Harjo's Poetry and the Survival of Storytelling
Author(s): Joy Harjo and Mary Leen
Source: American Indian Quarterly, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Winter, 1995), pp. 1-16
Published by: University of Nebraska Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1185349
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AN ART OF SAYING:
JoY HARJO'S POETRYAND THE SURVIVALOF STORYTELLING
BY MARY LEEN
In her poem titled, "The Book of Myths," Joy Harjo (1990:55-56)
introduces "stories/that unglue the talking spirit from the pages" (lines 3334). Stories have the power to take action, to unglue a spirit, to revise words
on a page, to cross sacred boundaries to revisionist mythmaking. Another
Native American writer addressesstorytelling and crossing boundaries in his
short story, "Four Skin." Gerald Vizenor (1991:91) crosses the boundaries
between science (computers and research) and art (storytelling), between
nature (the night) and academia (graduate school): "The truth is that this
computer time was given to me to do research,but researchis too slow to hold
the night, so I have been telling stories to this machine about being a
crossblood skin and graduate student." This quote also crosses the vague oral
(crossblood skin as noble/howling savage) and literate (graduate student)
boundaries that many Native Americans-as do most oppressed minoritiesconsistently maneuver.
In oral cultures, storytelling maintains and preserves traditions. It
takes listeners on a journey toward a renewal of life, a common survival theme
in Native rituals and ceremonies. Older generations pass on stories told when
they were young. Thus, storytelling knits a new generation into the fabric of
generations gone. This act servesas a "gentle survival"tactic-a productive way
to fight extinction. The poet Leslie Ullman (1991:180) has written of the active
role of storyteller in Harjo's In Mad Love and War:
[H]er stance is not so much that of a representative of a culture as
it is the more generative one of a storyteller whose stories resurrect memory, myth, and private struggles that have been overlooked, and who thus restores vitality to the culture at large. As a
storyteller, Harjo steps into herself as a passionate individual
living on the edge.
As a storyteller in her poetry, Harjo promotes survival in the resurrection of
memory, myth, and struggles. This act of storytelling is vital and generative.
For Native American cultures, storytelling has served as entertainment, as well as to answer questions from curious children about the origins
of natural sights and phenomena. In her poem titled "Eagle Poem," Harjo
(1990:65) names a site of human origin:
We are truly blessed because we
Were born, and die soon within a
True circle of motion,
Like eagle rounding out the morning
Inside us (lines 19-23)
MARRYLEEN
TEACHESWOMEN'SLTERA TUREANDCREATIVEWRITINGIN THE
DEPARTMENTOF ENGLISHAT ILLINOISSTATE UNIVERSITY
IN NORMAN, ILL.
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The storyof the eagle's"sacredwings"that"sweptour heartsclean"is a place
of origin, an explanationof how people arrivedon the land. In their book
of Native American myths, Simon Ortiz and Richard Erdoes (1984:xiv)
remindus that "[a]lltribeshavespun narratives... for the featuresof their
landscape:howthis rivercameto be,whenthesemountainswereformed,how
our coastlinewascarved."Sacredstorieswereconsideredfactual,andthe idea
of history, of past and present and future for indigenous peoples before
contact, was quite differentfrom the linear, chronologicalway events are
organizedin the Westernworld.In a collection of interviewstitled Winged
WordsHarjo spoke of time as nonlinear:"I also see memory as not just
associatedwith past history, past events,past stories,but nonlinear, as in
future and ongoing history, events, and stories"(Coltelli 1990:57).The
juxtapositionand incorporationof past and present,history and future,
survivein contemporarystorieswithin Harjo'spoetry.
In relationto Native Americanmyths,Erdoesand Ortiz (1984:xii)
write:"Plotsseemto travelattheirownspeed,defyingconventionandattimes
doing away completely with recognizablebeginnings and endings."The
boundariesof the chronologicalorderof beginningandendingarevagueand
shifting-and not respected.Therefore,stories often seem to bridge the
or the pastandthe present.In herprosepoem
everydayandthe supernatural,
titled "OriginalMemory"Harjo(1990:47)presentsnotions of the past and
future:"WhenI am insidethe Muscogeeworld,whichis not a flip side of the
Westerntime chain but a form of music staggeredin the ongoing event of
earth calisthenics,the past and the futureare the same tug-of-war."
Rather
than being anotherform of time, the Muscogeeworld is music and motion
in calisthenics.In the Muscogeeworld the past and the futureare the same
struggle.Both are outside the present.Both pull at a memberof marginal
worldsby shoutingto be rememberedand beggingto survivefor the future.
Traditionalmythsremindus thatthe "[N]ativeAmerican,followingthe pace
of 'Indiantime,' still lives connectedto the nurturingwomb of mythology"
(Erdoesand Ortiz 1984:xi).As an exampleof a differentperspectiveof time,
consider that Native Americanceremoniesoften lasted five to ten days.
Candidatesin ritesof passageoften fastedand sangfor threeor four daysat
a time with no sleep.Boundariesarecrossedin the act of narrative:lengths
of time, realities,histories,cultures,past/present.
In referenceto diverseand multiple knowledgesand subject-positions: boundariesto be crossed,or ignored,or acknowledgedas imposed-a
networkofintertextsintersectsandaffectsfamiliarandunfamiliarstoriesand
andknowledges.Manyimagesin Harjo's(1990:57-58)poem,
subject-positions
"DeathIs a Woman,"intersectto communicateamongvariousworlds.The
speakerwalks"thesenighthoursbetweenthe deadandthe living"(line 1);she
namesthis a "spiralof tangentialstories"(line 5); she can see her own death
tryingon her shoes (line 6). The storiesmaybe separate,but they connectby
a thread,dialoguewith eachother,and theytranslateknowledgebetweenthe
worlds of the dead and the living.
In herprosepoem "DeerDancer,"Harjo(1990:5-6)tells the storyof
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Indians and a woman dancer in a bar on the coldest night of the winter: "We
were Indian ruins. She was the end of beauty" (page 5). The Indian patrons
at the bar are described as "hardcore,""Indian ruins," HenryJack's "head by
the toilet," "broken survivors," and "children without shoes" (pages 5-6). As
she tells the stories of Indian lives, she also refers to the story: "The music
ended. And so does the story. I wasn't there" (page 6). The storyteller didn't
experience the event she tells; she may not have invented the story, but she
does invent her listeners-she makesa readerwho listens to the story (that may
not have happened), creates a listener out of any given reader.
In his collection of essaysby and about Native American storytellers,
Coyote WasHere, Bo Scholer (1983:136) writes:
[s]torytelling is a communal act which represents man's attempt
at world construction. It is a means of continual recreation in the
tribal world of man and of cosmic and psychological order, a way
of reaffirming all the subtleties of life while teaching sacred ways
and customs. Thus storytelling is the vital cord that binds all
human life to that of the Great Mystery, and it is the pulsating
blood that colors the individual experience and provides psychological and conceptual protection for the community.
By nature, storytelling is subjective. It does not pretend to present
objective facts but rather dreams and an idiosyncratic understanding of life.
While Indians may have considered their sacredstories to be factual, they seem
to have accepted the reality of subjectivity in the retelling from generation to
generation. The changes in the stories do not appear to have affected their
power to bind a people together. The stories may shift, just as boundaries can,
but that shifting doesn't make the stories fictional: "legends are not told
merely for enjoyment, or for education, or for amusement: they are believed"
(Erdoes and Ortiz 1984:xv). Simon Ortiz, a Native American and a scholar,
also considered storytelling in an essay in Scholer's (1983:57) collection:
There were always the stories. And they weren't just stories, they
were the truth. They were views on the truth of life. And the
truth of this life was that it was a way of life, the way we-the
community of Acoma Pueblo, the larger Native American world,
the world in general-lived. And it was the stories which opened
my eyes, my mind, my soul upon that way of life that world in
which I lived. And because the world continued and I continued
with it, the stories went on, constantly in the making, changing,
reaffirming the belief that there would always be the stories.
The theme of survival, of continuation, is a foundation for the act of
storytelling in oral cultures.
In her book Yearning:race,gender, and culturalpolitics, bell hooks
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MARYLEEN
exploresthe ideaof historyin storytelling.Sherefersspecificallyto the artof
quiltmaking,a primarilyfemale activity that has been held traditionally
within the bordersof craftand home. hooks movesquiltmakingacrossthese
borders,into the realmof narrativeand history.She also seesquiltmakingas
a spiritualphilosophy:"aspiritualprocesswhereone learnedsurrender.Itwas
a form of meditation where the self was let go. This was the way she
[quiltmaker]had learnedto approachquiltmakingfrom her mother.To her
it was an art of stillness and concentration,a work which renewedthe
spirit"(hooks1990:116).Again we see the narrativetheme of renewingthe
spirit.hooks (1990:120-121)developsthe notion of historyin the storytelling
of quilts:
Baba[her grandmother]believedthat each quilt had its own
narrative-astory that began from the moment she considered
makinga particularquilt. The storywas rooted in the quilt's
history,why it was made,why a particularpatternwas chosen....
Babawould show her quilts and tell their stories,giving the
history(the concept behind the quilt) and the relationof chosen
fabricsto individuallives.... Togetherwe would examinethis
work and she would tell me about the particulars,about what my
mother and her sistersweredoing when they wore a particular
dress.She would describeclothing stylesand choice of particular
colors. To her mind these quilts weremaps chartingthe courseof
our lives. Theywerehistoryas life lived.
hooks is crossingboundariesandexaminingstorytellingin the quilt squares.
Just as Vizenor'sgraduatestudent in "FourSkin"is a crossblood and an
academic,a storytellerand a computeroperator,so hooks' grandmotheris a
teacherand historian,as well as a domestic quiltmaker.Erdoesand Ortiz
(1984:389)discussthe crossingof boundariesin Nativemyths:"Inthe Indian
imaginationthereis no divisionbetweenthe animalandhumanspheres;each
takesthe other'sclothing,shiftingappearanceatwill." Here,boundariescan
be not only shiftingand vague,but in traditionalNativemyths,"thereis no
division."Thus,storytellingfunctionsin traditionalmythsas a performance
that rendersthe effectof makingboundariesdisappear.Harjocontinuesthe
tradition of erasing boundaries when she discusses the lines between
contemporaryand traditionalstories:
I mostly rely on contemporarystories.Even though the older
ones are like shadowsor are theredancingrightbehind them, I
know that the contemporarystories,what goes on now, will be
those incorporatedinto those older storiesor become a partof
that"(Bruchac1987:91).
Eventuallythereis no divisionbetweenthe old and newstories.Theybecome
partof eachother.Theyaredancingthe samedanceand sustainingactivelife
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in that dance.
Severalnotions of narrativeand storytellingoperate in Harjo's
poetry.Severaltypesof bordersarecrossed.Storytellingproclaimsdifferent
functions. In his essay, "Native AmericanOral Narratives:Context and
Continuity,"KennethRoemer(1983:45-46)describesa storyteller:"A good
storytelleruses his body and his voice.... old Cheyennestorytellersbegan
their sacrednarrativesby smoothing the ground and going througha brief
ritualof markingthe dirtand touchingtheirbodies."This act of smoothing
the earthsignifiedthatthe Creatormadehumansand the earth,and that the
Creatorwasnowwitnessingthisstory.Thestorytellerceremoniallycrossesthe
boundariesbetweenthe earthand humansby touchingthe soil of the earth
to her body,for the Creatorto see hertell the story.Suchaccountsof Native
storytellersvalidatethe ideathat storytellingis a performance,that thereare
actionsandconsequencesto consider.In an interviewHarjodiscussedenergy,
power,andactionof stories:'We allfelttheenergy-afterthe tradingof stories,
and hearingthe stories-the powerof those stories.Many of them included
torture, destruction,torture, destruction,over and over. And stories of
survival." (askoski 1989:9) The act of torture results in destruction, but the
people survive as long as the stories are told, acted, performed.
Storytellerslearn their stories from other storytellersand from
experience.Their stories changewith the speakerand with time and with
circumstance.Each story is told from a subject-positionwhich affects the
telling of the story.In Harjo'sbook, Secretsfrom the Centerof the World,
co-authoredwith Stephen Strom, she writes of the "earthspirit" as the
storyteller(Harjoand Strom 1989:54):
Don't botherthe earthspiritwho lives here.She is workingon a
story.It is the oldest story in the world and it is delicate,changing. If she seesyou watchingshe will invite you in for coffee, give
you warmbread,and you will be obligatedto stay and listen. But
this is no ordinarystory.You will have to endureearthquakes,
lightning,the deathsof all those you love, the most blinding
beauty.It's a storyso compellingyou may neverwant to leave;
this is how she trapsyou.
Here the subject-positionfrom which this story is being told is that of the
earthspirit.The storyshe tells is delicateand changing,so the speakerand
the listenerareboth operatingtactically,in a shiftingenvironment.Whenthe
earthspirit invitesyou in for coffee, she takesthe listenerinto her homeincludeshim/her in the "homeplace"bell hooks speaksof. And if her story
makesyou neverwantto leave,perhapsthateffectis the functionof the earth
spirit's narrative.
In anotherexcerptfrom the same book, Harjo'sspeakerdescribes
stories as a storage site, a place with boundaries in which wealth can
accumulate:
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Storiesare our wealth.Winternights we tell them over and over.
Once a starfell from the sky, but it wasn'tjust any star,just as
this isn't just any ordinaryplace.That cedartree marksthe event
and the land remembers the flash of its death flight. To describe
anything in winter whether it occurs in the past or the future
requires a denser language, one thick with the promise of new
lambs, heavy with the weight of corn milk. (Harjo and Strom
1989:24)
While such a site for accumulation of wealth would imply definite bound-
aries,and thus strategicoperations,the notion that a languagecan be "thick
with the promiseof new lambs"and "heavywith the weightof corn milk,"
implies a disregardfor boundariesbetweenlanguageand nature,or text and
nature.Thus, such a disregardfor boundarieswould point towardtactical
operations.Additionally,the referenceto the "we"that tells storiesoverand
And the ideathatthis "isn'tjustany
over,impliesa multiplesubject-position.
ordinaryplace,"suggestsanotherviewpointfor hook's"homeplace"(a place
to growand developand nurtureour spirits)and de Certeau's"everyday"
(a
place wheresubjectsoperatetacticallyto invent themselves).
In "FourSkin,"GeraldVizenor(1991:92)presentsNativeAmericans
as inventions, not "justany ordinary"stories that have been narratedby
whites:
[W]ewereinventedby missionariesand theologiansand social
scientistssubsidizedby the federalgovernment,and now, in the
cities, we are rewarded,praisedand programmed,for validating
the invention of the Indian.In that dialecticwe are impressedto
assumeownershipof strangeexperiences:imitatedata,live out
theories,pretendour lives in beadsand feathers,hold their
mirrorsfor portraitsand photographs,and serveas models,
wildernessbrothersand sistersto campersand huntersand
ecologists.We haveeven been taughtto resistquestionsabout
ourselves,about the Indianinvention,becausethe white world
has investedtoo much in the invention.
Vizenorcrossesmanyboundariesin this smallexcerptfromhis narrative.He
produceslife imitatingdata,ratherthandatareflectinglife. Theoriesbecome
practiceandarelivedout. Functioninghumanbeingsareholdingup mirrors,
aswell as servingas models.Thetypeof narrativeVizenordescribesheredoes
not respectboundaries.Furthermore,for whites to be constructingNative
identity is certainly traveling tactically in unfamiliar territory.The Indian-we-
know is the invention of white men. Theirwhite subject-positionis partof
our definition of the AmericanIndian.
The story referredto in the followingexcerptlives, in part,because
of the subject-positionof the manin Harjo'spoem (andthe storywithin).The
subject-positionof the "he"in the followinglinesfromHarjo's(1979:5)poem
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"Round Dance SomewhereAround OklahomaCity/November Night" is
presented in the poem as a "tall Creek man/who wanted to show me
everything/inone night"(lines 11-14).
he had almost the same story
of last OklahomaNovember
that I did
Indianssurroundedby Indians
surroundedby tall steel creatures
of downtownOklahomaCity (lines 1-6)
While the subject-positionof the storytellerabove may be other than the
speakeror the poet, he has "almostthe samestory"the speakerof the poem
does.Theircommon storiesfunctionas an actof solidarity.To be the "other"
theremust be boundariesbetweenspeakerof poem and the male storyteller.
However,if theyaretellingalmostthe samestories,theboundariesgetblurred
or become less clear.
In the followingquote from Harjo's(1979:21)poem "ThereWasA
the originof the storyor the storyteller'ssubject-position
Dance,Sweetheart,"
is unclear:
And the next time was either a story
in one of his poems or what she had heardfrom crows
gatheredbeforethe snow caught
in wheelsof trafficsilent
up and down CentralAvenue.(lines 11-15)
The speakerof the poem, who is also the one who heardthe story,doesn't
knowwhetherthe storywasin a poem or in a crow'scaw.Thosearetwo very
differentsources,yet the boundariesaroundeach that might separatethem
from eachotherareblurredbecauseeitherthe poem or the crowcould be the
source of the story. This possibility that a crow or a poem could be the
storytelleralmost makesthem interchangeable-apoem is a crow'scaw,and
a crow'scawis a poem.The"he"whowrotethepoem(withinthe Harjopoem),
the subject-positionof the storyteller(if the storywasin the poem he wrote),
is a man who "talkedto the moon to starsand to/other voices ridingin the
backseat/thatshe and Carmendidn't hear"(lines 11-15).The function of
storytellingin this poem might be to interactwith the unknown,as does the
male storytellerin the poem (within Harjo'spoem). Or the function of the
storyin Harjo'spoem mightbeto speakfromtheunknown,asthe crowspeaks
from the sky. In either case, the unknown would point toward tactical
operation.However,the moon and starsand the crowmaynot be viewedas
the unknown in some Native Americancircles. In that case, the borders
betweennatureand human are nonexistent;natureis not the other. There
would be no boundariesaroundwhathumanityis, and so we humanscould
not retreatwithin those boundariesto think, work, rest, and accumulate
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things separatefrom nature.
In his essay, "Dreamingthe Tribal Past into Tradition,"Joseph
Bruchac, a writer of Abenaki Indian and Slovak descent, writes of the
"unsteadinessof the world"and that the world is "atrickyplace"(1987:14).
A trickyplacemight be one whereboundariesareshiftingor vague.A tricky
placemightbe unfamiliar.Suchsitesrequirea tacticalapproachof operation.
Formanyminoritypeoples,our dominantcultureis thatverysite.And there
is little respiteor relieffrom tacticaloperationson a dailybasis.Likewise,as
a mainstreamedwhitewomanoperatingwithin Indianliterature,I am faced
with shifting perimeters,changing narrativesfrom different subject-positions. Roemer(1983:39)writesthat
[T]hepopularwrittenand mass media forms of transmitting
informationabout NativeAmericanoral narrativesoften strip
awaythe culturaland literarycontextsof the stories.Furthermore,
the narrativesare usuallyassociatedwith the dead past of the
VanishingAmerican.
Thecontextsthatarestrippedawayarepartofthe subject-positionfromwhich
Native Americanmyths are told. The dead past of the vanishingAmerican
is partof a newcontext,a newsubject-positionthat is artificiallyimposedon
NativeAmericanliterature.Therefore,the matrixor womb in which Native
mythslived,with indefiniteandshiftingboundaries,hasbeenerased,andthe
definite borderof a dead past of the VanishingAmericanhas been drawn
boldly around the stories by popular mass media. Any writer operating
outside these indefinite and shifting boundariesis operatingtactically.
In Harjo's(1990:57-58)poem,"DeathIsAWoman,"herstoryteller's
subject-positionis that of a daughterrememberingher deadfather:"Instead
I'll makeup anotherstoryaboutwho I thinkyou reallywere/withthe words
left in the mouth of a cardinal"(lines 16-17).The abandoneddaughteris
telling a story with "wordsleft in the mouth of a cardinal."Here, again,
bordersbetweenlanguageand nature,betweenwordsand cardinals,seemto
vanish.The function of the storynamedin this poem seemsto be to create
the fathershe neverhad. This creationis an activeprocess,a changingand
growingevent-a performance.The notion of invention(andreinvention)is
strongin severalpoemsfrom Harjo'sbook, In MadLoveand War.In a prose
poem,"IfIThinkAboutYouAgainItWill Bethe Fifty-ThirdMondayof Next
Year,"the speakerin the poem is erasingsomeone'sstoryandwritingit again
withoutthe someonein it (Harjo1990:49):"Or,betteryet,eraseit,yourwhole
story a sterilepage,and I would rewriteit withoutyou in it." The idea that
erasing someone's story can erasethe person crossesboundariesbetween
narrativeand human.The humanseemsdefinedand constructedby his/her
story.Thisactcertainlywouldmakenarrativea performance,an actor process
thatproduceseffect,not description.Anotherprosepoem,"SantaFe,"echoes
the notion of invention:"for that story hasn'tyet been invented.... space
is as solid as the bronze statueof St. Francis,the fox breakingthrough the
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lilacs, my invention of this story, the wind blowing" (Harjo 1990:42). This
quote reflects the importance of place in de Certeau's "tactic"and "strategy."
One would think of the term "strategy"as having a solid space, a familiar and
sound place in which to operate. However, the "solid" space Harjo offers is
not only fixed and familiar (the statue), but it is also the motion of the fox
through the lilacs, the process of the invention of a story, and the invisibility
of the wind blowing. Therefore, the solid space is also in motion, in process,
and invisible-which describes a place of de Certeau's tactical operation.
In her poem, "Healing Animal," Harjo's (1990:38-39) storytelling
functions as, not merely invention, but perfection: "from the somewhere
there is the perfect sound/called up from the best-told stories/of benevolent
gods,/who have nothing better to do" (lines 8-10). Here, invention is not the
"end of the story."In fact, the stories do not end. They arethe best-told stories,
which have been told and keep being told. This is an ongoing, ever-changing
process, not a fixed description that is offered as a finished product. The
subject-position of the storyteller involves a place called "the somewhere."
Again, this somewhere is probably not unknown to many Native Americans.
What Western civilization knows as "God," can often be seen labeled as "the
Great Mystery"in Native American literature.Mystery and the unknown and
the unfamiliar do not seem to be problematic. Or perhaps the boundaries
between humanity and the "GreatMystery"are culturally imposed and some
individuals do not acknowledge those boundaries.
In her poem titled, "The Real Revolution Is Love," Harjo (1990:2425) creates a speaker who awakens in a story being told from the subjectposition of her ancestors:"[I]awakein a story told by my ancestors/when they
spoke a version of the very beginning" (lines 45-46). The speaker's ancestors
told a story, but they spoke "aversion," not a Western notion of factual truth.
This tendency toward a changing story and subjective, personalized versions
characterizes a tactical operation in which definitions constantly shift. The
storytellers' ancestral subject-positions exist within a poem that revolves
around many subject-positions telling their stories, in one way or another. The
poem is a story of several people spending an afternoon philosophizing and
drinking around a table on a patio in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua on
LakeManagua. There arebanana trees and samba breezes,palm trees and rum.
People's names hint at different subject-positions: Roberto, Pedro, Diane,
Alonzo, Allen. These people are referredto as American, Anishnabe, Puerto
Rican, Creek. They speak of revolution and love. In the midst of many subjectpositions and many boundaries, which are probably not clear or fixed for
anyone in the poem, the speaker says, "I do what I want, and take my
revolution to bed with/me, alone" (lines 44-45). In bed with her revolution
is where she wakes in the story told by her ancestors. The proximity of
revolution and storytelling here might suggest the effect that narration and
articulation can evoke: Storytelling is a performance which functions here to
inspire revolution.
In the reverse, Harjo's (1990:19) poem, "Legacy"seems to provide a
story that is inspired by and birthed from revolution:
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In Wheeling, West Virginia, inmates riot.
Two cut out the heart of a child rapist
and hold it steaming in a guard's face
because he will live
to tell the story (lines 1-5)
Here, the subject-position will be of the guard who is terrorized by the
prisoners. That story will also be influenced by the subject-position of the
inmates. And the function of this story and its performance is survivalsurvival of the story. The inmates know they will not survive, but the story
can. Harjo doesn't say that the inmates'story will be told, but "thestory." If
the guard is to tell the story, it won't be the inmates' story, though they will
have contributed significantly to the content. In the content, the topic of this
poem, I see de Certeau's "tactic"in operation: riots, rapists, steaming organs
cut out of bodies. This is not an environment with proper places for the
characters involved. However, the institution of the prison on a "usual" day
probably functions as a place with familiar rules, a fixed structure, and
something near autonomy.
In her prose poem, "Autobiography,"Harjo (1990:14) compares the
lack of stories to starvation: "Translating them [dreams] was to understand
the death count from Alabama, the destruction of grandchildren, famine of
stories." By comparing a "famine of stories" to the "Trail of Tears" from
Georgia to Oklahoma in 1838, and to the cultural and racial genocide of her
people, the speaker in the poem offers an abundance of stories as a source for
survival. If the lack of stories is a famine and can starve many, then an
abundance of stories can feed and sustain many. In the same way that stories
can be sustenance and thus can interact with our bodies, Harjo's (1990:11-12)
prose poem "Strange Fruit," the title based on a Billie Holiday song, also
presents stories in contact with human bodies: "Shush, we have too many
stories to carryon our backs like houses" (page 11). Here, stories are a burden,
perhaps like fat on the human body. And too many of them can weigh a body
down, so the speaker's lover tells her to stop listening to the stories. The
speaker in this poem (written for a civil rights activist namedJacqueline Peters
who was lynched in Lafayette, California, in 1986) is performing for the
reader, stories of "hooded sheets riding up in the not yet darkness,""crosses
burning in my dreams," a black cat that stood in the middle of the road, the
"scarunder my arm."The speaker is the fruit of her mother, the fruits of her
labor, fruit to be plucked by "hooded ghosts from hell on earth." In a time
and place where stories weigh her down while she operates tactically, trying
to escape the dominating forces, the speakersheds the heavy stories and begins
to perform the stories that will help her survive. She says, "I want to squeeze
my baby's legs, see her turn into a woman just like me. I want to dance under
the full moon, or in the early morning on my lover's lap.... I want only
heaven" (ibid). She seems to be using narration to speak awaythe heavy stories
that threaten her survival and, with enunciation, perform stories that will
sustain her. Harjo spoke of this poem in relation to stories: "People don't
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know aboutJacquelinePeters,unlesssomeonetells her story.I feel that part
of what I do as a writer,partof my responsibility,is to be one of those who
help peopleremember.I feelI havea responsibilityto keepthesestoriesalive"
(Jaskoski1989:12).Harjoperformsstoriesto sustainthe livesof real,physical,
earthlypeople,givingthemthe supernatural,spiritualpowerof immortality.
In "DeerDancer,"a prosepoem of significantlength,Harjo(1990:5tells
the
storyofa magicalwomanwho entersa bar,charmsthe patronswith
6)
her beauty,seemsto becomea sacreddeer,and eventuallystripsnakedas she
dancesfor the silent crowd.However,in the last stanzaof this long poem
Harjo'sspeakersays,"Themusicended.And so doesthe story.I wasn'tthere"
(page6).How muchof the storyarelistenersto accept,if the storytellerwasn't
even there for the experienceshe is relating?Her possibilityfor inaccuracy
doesn'tseemto be a problemfor the speaker.Sheadmits,"Iimaginedherlike
this . . . the deerwho enteredour dreamin white dawn,breathedmist into
pine trees"(page6). If the DeerDancerhasentereddreamsand hasthe power
to breathemist into trees,the storydoesnot end.Theprotagonist-ofthe story
told by the speakerof a poemwrittenbyJoyHarjoandreadby thiswriterwho
offers this discussion(the many subject-positionsthroughwhich my reader
must hearthe story)-is not a product,fixed and offeredfor consumptionto
a reader,but a forcethatlivesactivelyin dreamsandmist.And the boundaries
betweenhumansandnaturearevagueif the DeerDancercanenterand affect
both. She can move easilyacrossboundariesthat she might not even see,but
that we cannot perceiveevercrossing.
In her poem titled, "ForAnna Mae PictouAquash,Whose SpiritIs
PresentHereand in the DappledStars(for we rememberthe storyand must
tell it againso we may all live),"Harjo(1990:7-8)againrefersto storytelling
as a way to survive.Anna Mae was a MicmacIndian and a memberof the
AmericanIndianMovement,an activeand radicalorganizationstill operating today in the United States.She was found killed on the Pine Ridge
Reservationin South Dakota.Authoritiescut her hands off and sent them
to Washingtonfor fingerprintswhen she was declareddead by exposure.
When her family found her missing,they reportedit and an investigation
followed. Laterit was discoveredthat Anna Maewaskilled by a bullet fired
atcloserangeto thebackof herhead.Harjo'stitlestatesopenlythatthe telling
of this storywill help keepus all alive.ButHarjo'spoemalsotellsotherstories
of Anna Mae. Though these stories seem contradictory,they are all true.
Though the mutilation and murderare true, so is the beautyof the young
womandescribedin the poem:"Youarethe shimmeringyoungwoman/who
found hervoice,/ when you werewarnedto be silent,or haveyour body cut
away/fromyou like an elegantweed"(15-18).Here"truth"can be seen as an
entitywith shiftingboundaries,with multipleformsseen and describedand
invented from multiple subject-positions(Anna Mae's family, the federal
government,Harjoas poet).
In her poem, "KansasCity,"Harjo (1983:33-34)tells one of many
stories of Noni Daylight. In this poem she is "standingnear the tracks/
waving/at the last train to leave/KansasCity" (lines 4346). The poem's
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speakeris Noni Daylight,and she tells of herrelationshipswith the different
men who fatheredher children.Noni Daylightspeaksof one man:"theone
whose eyestippedup/like swallowswings/ (whoseancestorslaid this track,/
with hers),/ all of them, their stories in the flatlandbelly/giving birth to
children/andto other stories"(lines36-42).Thesemen'sstoriesgavebirthto
humanchildrenand to morestories.Here,storiesfunction as performances
that resultin effects,in procreation,in survival.Again,boundariesbetween
humansand textareblurred.If storiescan be the motherof both, that makes
childrenand storiessiblings.
The performanceof the storycan be seen in the musicaldetailsof
Harjo's poetry. Pre-ColumbianNorth AmericanNative literatureknown
today is basedon songs and chantsin religiousceremonies.This elementof
music is a commonality among the many nations indigenous to this
continent.Musicoften appearsasa topic,aswell asin the languageof Harjo's
stories.A storytellershould tailor her storiesfor her audience.She should
know her people and her story.Harjoincludesfamiliarimagesin her stories
to makeherlistenerscomfortableandto givethema directconnectionto the
stories she tells. She offers a poem with music, and jazz musicianCharlie
Parker,asthe topic of the story.Harjo's(1990:21)poemtitled"Bird,"presents
culturalimagesin the bird as identifiableobjectand the motion of its flight
(line 2), the moon as object,its shape,its light, its motion (line 1), the act of
hijackinga plane, newsclips of actualhijacks,and films (line 13), and high
heelsasobject,theirsexualconnotations,genderassociations,theirsound on
a hardfloor, the pain of wearingthem for hours(line 16).Seriesor enigmas
appearin such irreconcilableimagesas "theshoulderof the darkuniverse"
(line 1), "the infinite glitterof chance"(line 2), "nerveendingslonger than
our bodies" (line 4), "the final uselessnessof words" (line 8), and "the
dimension a god lives" (line 19). Diversionsleading to mysterymight be
located in phrasesthat readersknow and recognize,but they may not have
had enough experiencewith to escapethe mystery.Such diversionsmight
includethe moon playinga horn (line 1),"thestairwayof forgetfulness"(line
6), "a woman who is always beautiful to strangers" (line 7), "a leap into
madness"(line 17), "the fingersof/saints" (lines 17-18),and "somepoem/
attemptingflight home" (lines 22-23). Familiarwords and images can be
found in the familiarsounds and experiencesin such phrasesas "[t]onight
I watched"(line2), "I'vealwayshada theory"(line 3), "allpoets/understand"
(lines 7-8),"ifwe'relucky"(line 9), "whenI come out of the theater"(line 10),
and "I want to see it" (line 20). Thus, Harjo tells a story that has familiar
sounds, but can sometimesmystifyor diverther listener.In anotherpoem
that uses music and a musician,here Nat King Cole, Harjouses words and
imagesto constructthe frameworkof her story.In "WeEncounterNat King
Cole As We Invent the Future,"the meaningsin her wordsand imagesare
contingentupon the reader'sexperiencesand memories,as well as the time
and place and circumstanceof the storytelling(Harjo1990:51).This poem
recallsindividualand perhapsmany-layered
imagesand sensationsfor each
reader,but the act of recognitionand associationof those familiarimagesis
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sharedcommunally.Mostof herwomenreadersoverthirtywill identifywith
a few of the following sensationsand images:"somewell-slickedman"(line
2), "eatfriedchicken,/drinkcokes"(line5-6),"tattooof roses"(line 14),"white
suede/shoes"and "spicehaircreme"(lines21-22),"small-townradios"(line
29).One canalmosttastethe chickenandCoke,andsmellthe haircreme.And
thesesensationsrecallfurtherassociationsa readerbringsto the story-or does
that storybringthe associationsto the listener?In eitherevent,our cultural
systemand its ideologieshavebuilt a foundationfrom which we, as readers
and listeners,are able to come to this poem through the same processof
recognitionand expectationandyet leavethe storywith individualinterpretations.
As a musical element, rhythm contributes dramaticallyto the
performanceof a story. Harjo's(1990:57-58)poem, "DeathIs a Woman,"
demonstratescomplexrhythmsof irregularduration,rapidunaccentedbeats
that move independentlyof the melodyin the pitchesof the languageaswell
as in the contentof the story.Whileit is truethatanytimea poem is scanned,
the results are subjectiveand debatable,the possible ambiguitiesin the
rhythmof the languagein "DeathIs a Woman"are markedand open wide
alternativerhythms,as well as meaningsfor the story.The firstten lines (of
a total of 42) are overflowingwith rhythmicpossibilitiesthat could also
influence different meaningsfor those lines. Line one might be scanned
rhythmicallyas"Iwalkthesenight' hours"and"see' you,"or "Iwalk' these
night hours"and "seeyou'," or "Iwalkthese' night hours"and "seeyou,
which could be interpretedas "the time I walk is at night and what I do to
you is see you," or "whatI do is walk and what I see is you," or "the night hours
I walk are these."
Linefivecouldbe scannedas"Fouryears' isn'tlong,"or "Fouryears
isn't' long," or "Four' years isn't long," which could be interpreted as "the
amount of time this takes isn't too much," or "this particularamount of years
isn't bad," or "four of these particular time increments are not bad."
Line six could be scanned as "I can already' see my own death," or
"I' can already see my own death," or "I can already see' my own death,"
which can be interpreted as "at this time, I can already see my death," or "I
am the one who can see my death," or "I have the ability to see my death
approaching."
Line ten can be scanned as "you' would never be satisfied," or "you
would never' be satisfied," which could be interpreted as "even back then
I knew you, of all people, were the one who would never be satisfied,"or "what
I knew was that there would never be a time that you would be satisfied."These
lines, and more, exemplify the many possibilities in the telling of this story.
In addition to rhythm, melody functions in the performance of
storytelling. The tones in lines 12-14 in "Death Is a Woman," plunge from the
high pitches of "tonight" and "I" and "see" down to "sun" and "fold" and
back up to "geese,""disappear,"and "teeth."The tone that the melody seems
to return to, the "tonic," is the /ee/ sound, to which the plunges in these three
lines consistently return. However, the following line (15) levels out at pitches
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that mediatebetweenthose highs and lows:"amreadyto run."Thesevowel
sounds areneitherhigh nor low, but hoverbetween.In contrastto lines 1214, lines 19-27contain comparativelyfew high pitches.In 96 words,only "I
see," "side," "whirling," "my," "Tiger people," "whiskey," "bleached," my
Cherokee,""Pottowatamie,""dying,""money,"and "spitting"(15 words)
contain high sounds.This count resultsin 16 percentof the wordsin lines
19-27soundinghigh, intense,and sharp,asopposedto lines 12-14(25 words)
in which 36 percent(9 words) of the words are high-pitchedand intense.
Comparisonsof the round,solemn, gloomy soundscould highlightsignificant placesin the story,emphasizingthe seriousnessand depthof eventsand
topics. Not only do thesemelodicpitch patternsmarkoff sectionsof a song,
they emphasizespecific words and so affect the meaningsof lessons and
explanationswithin stories.Although the readermay not consciously say,
"Oh look, Tigerpeople and whiskeyand money and spittingareprominent
images in this story,"the listener'smind processesthis information and
organizesit somehow.As for the rhymein "DeathIs a Woman,"the internal
rhymesresultin mostof the rhymein the poem:"tracks"
(line 13)and"black"
(line 30), "night" (line 1), "high" (line 8) and l'[s]trikes"(line 29), and "street"
(line8),"sweet"(line9),"geese"(line 13),"teeth"(line 13),and"bleached"
(line
23). Assonance,consonance,and alliterationalso serveas rhymingelements
in the poem:"slickandblack"(line 30),"reeking"(line29) and"feeling"(line
30), and "same side" (line 32). The lack of structuredrhyme creates a
conversationaleffect for the storytelling,bringing the storytellerand the
listenerinto the same room.
The storytellerandlistenertogetherpresentan imageof closeness,of
conversationin a personalspace.The notions of everydayconversationand
personalhomeplacemightbe thoughtof in termsof gender,as female,small,
private,domestic,and behind closed doors. Perhapsthis kind of categorization is justanotherwayof tryingto find discreetandautonomousboxesinto
which we, as Western civilization, can neatly put away such dangerous
notions: a place for everythingand everythingin its place. Imposing such
boundariesis a strategicact. The act of writing and readingwritten texts
encouragesus to organizeand presenta product,which is visuallyfixed and
finishedin time and space.Oralnarration,however,does not providea time
and space in which to build a product,but providesspacesthat grow and
change,spacesthatareunfamiliarandrequireimprovisationandspontaneity
to survive.While storytellingmay seem to be a way of saving,storing up
history and knowledgein an oral culture(a strategicoperation),becauseof
the shifting stories,the changingspeakers,the crossingof (or disregardfor)
boundaries,storytellingis as much a tacticalmaneuver.SuzetteElgin'swork
on a woman'slanguagecalled"Laadan,"
performsso thatwomenwon't have
to be spendingtheirenergyso muchon tacticaloperations-speakingwoman
thoughtsand actionsthrougha man'slanguage.In the argumentfor Laadan,
women areforcedto use the "master'stools" to resistthe master.Perhapsif
the woman'slanguageallowswomen moretime and spacein which to build
and study (strategic),they might be allowedto do more than survive.
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As for the powerin the narrativeperformanceof storytelling,Leslie
MarmonSilko,a writerof Pueblodescent,writesof an old man dyingin her
short story "Storyteller."
The dying man tells the storyof a hunter stalking
abearon the frozeniceof the northerntundra.As thestoryteller'sdeathnears,
so the hunter nearsthe bear:
After all the months the old man had been telling the story,the
bearwas within a hundredfeet of the man;but the ice fog had
closed in on them now and the man could only smell the sharp
ammoniaodor of the bear,and hear the edge of the snow crust
crackunder the giant paws.
One night she listenedto the old man tell the story all
in
night his sleep,describingeach crystalof ice and the slightly
differentsounds they made undereach paw;first the left and
then the right paw,then the hind feet. (1987:2730)
Of course,when the hunterreachedthe bear,the storytellerdied.As long as
he could keepthe storygoing, he lived.And he acknowledgedhis deathas it
approachedhis body,and as the hunterapproachedthe bearin the story.To
end an autobiographicalessay,Harjowrote:"Itis now verylate and I will let
someoneelsetakeoverthis story.Maybethe cricketwho likesto come in here
and sing and who probablyknows a betterway to write a poem than me"
(Harjo1987:270). Storytellersmaystop tellingstories,but the storieslive on
and continue to be told by another generationof storytellers:children,
grandchildren,poets, and crickets.
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Bruchac,Joseph, ed.
1987
SurvivalThisWay.Tucson:SunTracksand University of ArizonaPress.
Coltelli Laura,ed.
1990
WingedWords.Lincoln:Universityof NebraskaPress.
De Certeau,Michel.
1984
ThePracticeof EverydayLife.Berkeley:Universityof CaliforniaPress.
Erdoes,Richardand Simon Ortiz.
1984
"Introduction."AmericanIndianMythsand Legends.New York:Pantheon.
Harjo,Joy.
1990
In Mad Loveand War.Middletown:WesleyanUniversityPress.
1983
"KansasCity."She Had Some Horses.New York:Thunder'sMouth Press.
1987
"OrdinarySpirit."I TellYouNow. Eds.BrianSwanandArnoldKrupat.Lincoln:Universityof
NebraskaPress.
1979
WhatMoon Drove Me To This?New York:I. Reed Books.
Harjo,Joy and StephenStrom.
1989
Secretsfrom the Centerof the World.Tucson:Universityof ArizonaPress.
hooks, bell.
1990
Yearning:
race,gender,and culturalpolitics. Boston:South End Press.
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JaskoskiHelen.
"A MELUSInterview:Joy Harjo."MELUS
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Ortiz, SimonJ.
WasHere.Ed. Bo
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ContextandContinuity.'Smoothing
theGroundEd.Brian
"NativeAmericanOralNarratives:
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Swann.Berkeley:Universityof CaliforniaPress.
Scholer,Bo.
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1983
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Silko, LeslieMarmon.
TheHarperAmerican
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Literature.Vol.2. Eds.Donald McQuade,et al. New York:
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Ullman, Leslie.
"SolitariesandStorytellers,MagiciansandPagans:FivePoetsin theWorld.7TheKenyon
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