Harjo, Walcott, and Schwartz Reflection

 Jasper Martin 

Dr Ellis 

EN 376

4 October, 2023

    Each of these poems does something unique with the idea of self identity and understanding of oneself on a level much beyond what we see spoken about largely today. These poems, in their own ways, each tell the readers that they need to come to understand and accept themselves fully before they can truly feel comfortable. "A Map to the Next World" by Joy Harjo seems to show this through much analogy and seems much more intent on getting the point across through imagery and gruesome ideas of what happens should you forget your lineage or not come to terms with it. Something else he seems to make an important point of is the idea that he states in the last sentence, which is the most important part of the poem. He states that "You must make your own map." which is why he is so insistent on the importance of following it, because what he means through this poem is that you must make your own path for yourself through life, and follow through with the "map" that you created for yourself. 

    "Love After Love" is a poem by Derek Walcott and is a much more light poem to read than Harjo's take on the idea of acceptance. He speaks of looking at yourself in the mirror and "smile at each other's welcome," among other things like giving food to yourself. This last part is a clear analogy to the idea of allowing yourself to be treated, and the idea of you deserving things that make you happy. It also represents something he would directly state later into the poem, and that is to give your heart back to yourself. This goes in line with some of the ideas stated in Harjo's poem, and that is that he shows you have to "make your own map," an idea that is more or less stating how you need to be comfortable with forging your own way forwards, which starts with being okay with yourself. 

    Jena Schwartz took this idea and put it into her own creative project by coming to the conclusion that the future does not have to be the same thing for everyone, and does not have to be some grand thing. The future, as said in her collage of different people reading off the poem, could be something as simple as a bowl of food. But something consistent she makes clear through the many smiling faces is that the future is something that each one of these people wants. She shows how each person who said a part of the poem was happy with that future they wanted for themselves. If we take all the ideas thrown at us in different ways through these three poems, it is the collective idea that each person has a future they want to see, but to get to that future and be happy with it, first you need to accept yourself for all parts, and only then can you move forwards.  

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