But this wasn’t enough to sustain the need for artistic expression. I believe that if you do not answer the noise and urgency of your gifts, they wil… - Joy Harjo

I believe that if you do not answer the noise and urgency of your gifts, they will turn on you. Or drag you down with their immense sadness at being abandoned. (p135)

And whom do I call my enemy?
An enemy must be worthy of engagement.
I turn in the direction of the sun and keep walking
I't the heart that asks the question, not my furious mind.
The heart is the smaller cousin of the sun.
It sees and knows everything.
It hears the gnashing even as it hears the blessing.
The door to the mind should open from the heart.
An enemy who gets in risks the danger of becoming a friend.

She thinks of the 4 a.m. lonelinesses that have folded
her up like death, discordant, without logical and
beautiful conclusion.

when you’re writing, and I think when you’re creating, too, it’s a large part of that act of writing or — whether it’s music or stories or poetry or drawing, or any of the — it’s — a large part of it is listening.