Because Music is a language that lives in the spiritual realms, we can hear it, we can notate it and create it, but we cannot hold it in our hands - Joy Harjo

One of the most important things is to honor your story. Every origin story is so particular. It’s about finding the particulars. Every origin story has a place and a place that it shines. So it’s important as you move through memory to realize when you're making memories, and how are you making them. Writing poetry is part of making them with attention, but everybody has a story. You know, honor it. Honor it, even the hard parts. I think that was one of the first things that poetry taught me was that I went to poetry to try to, I think, in the beginning, try to find a place of refuge, and then poetry taught me that all parts matter.

I always play or perform music with my poetry. When poetry came into the world, it did not arrive by itself, but it came with music and dance.

Children are considered the continuance of life. They are spirits who have come to share the world with us. We have a responsibility to nurture their gifts, to teach them. A ceremony or gathering cements the relationship and responsibilities. The over-culture has infantilized children and the experience of children. And the over-culture keeps us as children so we do not question consumption and the needs of our souls. (Over-culture is a term I created to name the false culture that traps us economically, whose products do not feed our souls with filling cultural song-story-art food.) (2009)