Visions of Moving Forward from Here by Harjo, Walcott, and Schwartz’ Poems

 Elizabeth Thompson

Dr. Ellis

EN 376

4 October 2023

Visions of Moving Forward from Here by Harjo, Walcott, and Schwartz’ Poems

            These poems seem envision a future within the context of the past. Similar to the time-space philosophy of talanoa which looks backward into the future using the past for guidance forwards, these poems give agency to the reader to sculpt the future based on the context of our present lives.

            Joy Harjo envisions time as a map through a hole in the sky, the future. They describe a journey “through the membrane of death” where one encounters ancestors separated by death but comments “They have never left us; we abandoned them for science.” We often view death as a loss of the living, a relationship, and a loss of communication involving an exchange of wisdom. The departed leave the realm of the living. However, Harjo inverts our perception by saying we as a society have abandoned our ancestral knowledge for science. Ancestors remain with the living through shared wisdom, but we sever that connection between worlds when we carve out a future that ignores that wisdom. However, Harjo provides understanding by accommodating the mistakes of humanity and hope that the future is still malleable. There is no beginning or end to the journey, but we “must make [our] own map.”

            Walcott personalizes the narrative of time by conceptualizing a retrospective future self. They say, “Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger who has loved you all your life.” People encounter different versions of themselves through time but always on the way to imagining the next form. In that final form, you can look back at all those past versions and be in communion with them because they are all part of the whole person. Some versions are loved more than others, but the past selves typically rejoice in the future self because we like to imagine ourselves as better than we once were. This is important within the context of humanity because we need to see ourselves succeeding at molding the future we want, but it is difficult when faced with the discouraging problems of the present. We often hear the world is doomed to climate change, and there will be no home for our descendants, but Schwartz says, “The future isn’t waiting for you to be ready, the future loves you already.” This offers hope to those who envision change. The future is already here and impending, but it is also nurturing, loving, caring, and fostering you into the kind of person you are meant to be to create the change it needs.

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