Harjo/Walcott/Schwartz Reaction

Tyra Alexander

2 October 2023

EN*376*01

Dr. Ellis


Harjo/Walcott/Schwartz Reaction 



After reading and listening to the three poems for this week, I had a lot of thoughts about all of them. For starters, Harjo’s poem ‘A Map to the Next World” talks about reconnecting oneself to the past in order to continue into the future. I really liked the map metaphor in this poem. It really puts into perspective how to really see a fruitful future; by acknowledging the gift that according to Harjo is forgotten. Harjo also calls this forgetfulness the abandonment of “encampment and relatives” which is caused by science. This could also directly correlate to euro colonization when indigenous people were forced to abandon their practices. I suppose that Joy Harjo may be proposing a future where people of Native American descent let go of notions that were used for oppression. By saying “You will have to navigate by your mother’s voice, renew the song she is singing”, Harjo could be saying that in order to move forward in the future you will have to move using the voice of your ancestors and kind of reprise the song or cultural practices that have already existed.

In the next poem by Walcott, ‘Love after Love’, I am picking up the same themes as Harjo. Walcott is also saying to embrace the culture and ancestry that you have suppressed. However, the metaphor in this case is about sitting at a dinner table with two of yourself; one from before who embraced their culture, and the current self who suppressed it. I found this approach to be very interesting because with futurism I'm seeing reflections of that ‘what if’ question– what if there was a world in which you can reflect on yourself and your past and embrace it? Also I am picking up on the notion of reflecting on the part of yourself you neglected– such as heritage or culture that was erased from the line that says “Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger who has loved you/ all your life, whom you ignored for another, who knows you by heart”. I suppose that Walcott is insinuating that someone forgot themself and now the person who they once knew was a stranger. 

The last poem by Schwartz, “The Future Loves You Already”, kind of solidifies the correlation between all the poems. It kind of acts as a manifestation while also proposing a utopian-like future where everyone is included and celebrated. What makes this poem different however is of course the format in which I viewed it. With the poem being a video and with a different person saying each line, what I can conclude from that is that Shwartz might be saying ‘in the future, everyone– no matter their background can come together’. Which in a way, connects to the other poems who’s main themes are embracing who you are.



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