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Book readings
By Cynthia Oi
by Joy Harjo
Star-BulletinJoy Harjo was born a member of the Muscogee Nation in Oklahoma, grew up in New Mexico and about two years ago moved to Honolulu.
In each place, the poet and saxophone player, who has also studied film and songwriting, has found a home, making friends and adding more people to her "family," which, she says, "extends all over the world."
When she came to Hawaii for a performance in 1992, Harjo says she immediately felt comfortable.
"I was blown away -- some places feel home right away and this place has always felt like home."
She has adopted an island lifestyle, joining a paddling club and riding horses in Waimanalo. She also has adapted her poetry and prose to the issues and natures of Hawaiians as well as to those of her own nation.
In a piece from her new book, "A Map to the Next World," Harjo writes:
"I will consider the tyranny of false rulers and how though they appear to dominate your island they are small and brittle and will break.
"When we meet at the gates of power you honor me with pikake and maile and a chant that allows me to paddle with you into the waters so I will not be a stranger.
"I offer you coral and tobacco and a song that will makes us vulnerable to the shimmer of the heart, allows us to walk the roots of our peoples through any adversity to sunrise.
"This is how I know myself.
"This is how I know who you are."
Harjo will read from "A Map" and from her first children's book, "The Good Luck Cat," tomorrow and next month.
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What: Free readings by Joy Harjo
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