Harjo, Wallcott, and Schwartz Blog Post

Eva Walters

EN*376*01

Dr. Ellis

4 October, 2023

Blog Post: Harjo, Wallcott, and Schwartz

Harjo, Wallcott, and Schwartz each develop the themes of self-identity, self-love, and making your own path throughout the future. 

Joy Harjo’s poem titled, “A Map to the Next World”, describes the events and feelings of straying away from one’s culture throughout time, and the journey to regaining a connection to ancestral roots. Harjo writes, “We no longer know the names of the birds here, how to speak to them by their personal names. Once we knew everything in this lush promise” (Harjo). The narrator describes that through time, the connection to the nature of the land has been diminished. The narrator then goes on to emphasize the importance of connecting back to your ancestors by stating, “You will have to navigate by your mother’s voice, renew the song she is singing…Yet the journey we make together is perfect on this earth who was once a star and made the same mistakes as humans. We might make them again, she said. Crucial to finding the way is this: there is no beginning or end. You must make your own map” (Harjo). Harjo’s poem states that through the mistakes we have made as humans on Earth within the environment, there is still room to connect back to our ancestors and change our ways by making our own “maps” through the future. 

Similar to the themes depicted in Harjo’s poem, Derek Walcott touches on the importance of paving a path for the future through self-love. Derek Walcott’s poem, “Love after Love”, describes the importance of caring for oneself after a time of struggle. Walcott writes, “You will love again the stranger who was your self. Give wine. Give bread, 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” (Walcott). Walcott’s poem emphasizes the importance of caring for and connecting to yourself again after a time of heartbreak. This directly connects to the point that Harjo identified in her poem of connecting back to ancestors in order to fulfill your cultural roots sufficiently again. 

Jena Schwartz’s poem, “The Future Loves You Already” connects all three poems together. The poem ensures that the future already loves all people entering, and the future will be joyful. These poems all work together to emphasize the importance of loving yourself and others and drawing on the past in order to ensure a bright future.

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