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.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

LaValle Reflection

  Elizabeth Thompson Dr. Ellis EN 376 6 November 2023 Identity and Mission             LaValle characterizes Grimace’s mission as a spiritual one that is suited to his identity. Near the end of the book Kim says, “Each of us gets the job that suits us. You have been used to hearing the voices others can’t hear… That’s why you’re the Signalman” (37). She then says she is the Pilot because traveling between Earth and the Astral City requires “Someone used to navigating between a world where they’re understood and a world where they’re misjudged” (37). While Kim is talking about the displacement of her people from Africa across the world via colonization and living as a sort of misjudged alien in those places, she could also be alluding to her gender identity. When Grimace asks her what she thinks about church, Kim says, “Half my good memories happened in my church. A few of the bad ones too. But it’s like first love, it always has a place in your heart” (24). Later, she jokes with Grimac
Read more

Adeyemi 2nd Weekly Reflection

  Joshua Singh Dr. Ellis EN 376 Second Adeyemi Reflection One of the benefits the novel’s structure serves is that each chapter follows the perspective of a singular character. This can also highlight the parallels between different characters' realizations of what is happening around them as well as how this realization compares to what they have been taught growing up. More specifically, Amari and Inan’s internal conflictedness stands at odds with their father’s teaching, and their maturation is seen through how they define themselves against him. For example, Amari does not want to emulate her father’s violence and cruelty, nor does she want to continue in the path of violence and destruction that he has shown her since the beginning of his reign. After she kills one of the captains, the spectators of Orisha applaud them and call Amari “Lionare.” Rather than feeling honored by this, Amari rebukes any of the glorification that would usually accompany being cheered on with a t
Read more

LaVelle Reflection, We Travel the Spaceways

 Ruth Owusu  Dr. Juniper Ellis  Postcolonial Literature  LaVelle Reflection, We Travel the Spaceways     In the short story, We Travel the Spaceways, it is an oddly entertaining story. I understood it to be an inside look into Grimace's daily life and mind as a homeless man in New York City. Even in this futuristic tale, homelessness is still a struggle and people's treatment remains negative. However, with the arrival of Kim, she is unlike the other human beings. She is willing to sit, talk, and walk with Grimace and together be a part of each world. That fact, I would say was a big takeaway for me in how Kim was receptive and kind to Grimace, fully aware of his status in society. This was only possible because she was a spirit made flesh. There are many times when his soda bottles, labeled as his friends, would talk with him but also guide him as a means of protection, in rough times. As well as, his mind thinking about space and the Pathfinders. All these measures were a par
Read more