"Maybe it is the thunders who breathed life into my body. They are forever wanting to lift me high and carry me away." -Prodigal Daughters (Kimberly … - Joy Harjo

It was all connected, this poetics of listening, word making, and dancing. There was power to transform, to lighten the heaviness of the burden of being human. That's how I came to understand the power of poetry and music. It was a tool, but more than a tool. Words and music evoked a state of mind that lifted us up when racial and historical despair threatened.

People often forget that everything they say, everything they do, think, feel, dream, has effect, which to me is being Indian, knowing that. That's part of what I call "being Indian" or "tribal consciousness."

We tried to pretend war wasn't going to happen.

Though they began building their houses all around us

and demanding more.

They started teaching our children their god's story,

A story in which we'd always be slaves.