Joy Harjo: The New U.S. Poet Laureate
We have a new U.S. Poet Laureate. What is a Poet Laureate? The Library of Congress calls the position “the nation’s official poet.” Through various projects, the Poet Laureate tries “to raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry.” The new U.S. Poet Laureate is Joy Harjo, 68, a native of Utah and a member of the Muskogee Creek Nation. She is the first Native American to hold this position,
Harjo is the author of eight books of poetry. Her memoir, Crazy Brave, discusses her alcoholic father, abusive stepfather, teen motherhood, a failed first marriage, and living in poverty. Poetry helped her find her voice, a voice she needed “in order to live.” At age 40, she picked up a saxophone for the first time. Since then she has released five albums of original music. One reviewer calls her music a blend of “traditional Native American rhythms and singing with jazz, rock, and blues.”
Harjo’s poetry often celebrates the persistence of Native people. She writes: “We are still America. We / know the rumors of our demise. We spit them out. They die / soon.” In her poem “She Had Some Horses,” she describes the often contradictory “horses” within a woman: “She had some horses she loved. / She had some horses she hated. / These were the same horses.”
In the poem “This Morning I Pray for My Enemies,” Harjo writes: “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 only open from the heart. / An enemy who gets in, risks the danger of becoming a friend.”
Harjo says that humanizing and healing will be her aims as Poet Laureate, “a healing of people speaking to each other, with each other.” She adds, “I really believe if people sit together and hear their deepest feelings and thoughts beyond political divisiveness, it makes connections.” You might want to check out her website (www.joyharjo.com.) or Youtube to hear her reciting some of her poems and playing some of her music.
You don’t have to be a poet laureate, however, to write good poetry. I would like to share this little poem written by Donna Butler, a Sister of Providence I met at St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana. Entitled “Dandelion,” the poem suggests that the dandelion should be declared “the patron flower of prophets.”
“Dandelion”
Unwelcomed
save by children,
dandelion,
I declare you
patron flower of prophets.
Who would
believe such power
lies within
the beauty
of your soft
geometric fluff
poised to take
a ride
on the wind
and land in
uninvited places?
Did anything in this reflection stand out for you?
Do you use poetry in your prayer?… in your daily life?
Do you ever write poetry?
Our song today is a poem written and performed by Joy Harjo. It’s called “Eagle Poem.” For me, it is a beautiful “description” and experience of prayer… I would love to hear your response to this poem…
So, what are you thinking and feeling right now? My other readers and I would love to hear from you below!
Relax!
One of my favorite cartoons shows two snakes. One is resting on the ground, his body relaxed in supple curves. The other is leaning against a tree, his body stiff and straight as a board. The one on the ground says to the other, “Charlie, you gotta learn to relax already!”
Summer time is the time of relaxation—for many of us. We cook on our grills, eat outside, spend time with family and friends, enjoy a vacation, or take a dip in a pool. But some of us have a hard time relaxing. One of the main enemies of relaxation is perfectionism. Perfectionists are people who put excessive demands upon themselves—and on others too. Psychiatrists say perfectionism is sometimes a way of coping with low self-esteem. It can also arise out of fears of abandonment or shame.
In her book, Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott calls perfectionism “the voice of the oppressor.” She continues, “Perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting every stepping-stone just right, you won’t have to die.” She concludes, “The truth is you will die anyway and a lot of people who aren’t even looking at their feet are going to do a lot better
than you, and have a lot more fun while they’re doing it.”
Jesus knew how to relax. He frequented the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, not to preach to them, but to relax in their presence. We sense that Jesus knew how to relax when we read his parables. Where did he come up with such incredible images—bread rising, seeds germinating, children being children, lilies bobbing in the breeze, camels squeezing through narrow gates—except that he took time to observe the world around him and to reflect on what he saw and felt. In other words, he relaxed.
Not only did Jesus relax, he told his disciples to relax. On more than one occasion he said, “Come away by yourself to a deserted place and rest a while.” Other times he told his listeners things like, “Don’t worry… don’t be afraid… stop fretting.” Why? Because the God who loves you more than you 
imagine, is caring for you. Everything is in God’s hands, so you can afford to lighten up a little and relax!
(Adapted from my book Gracious Goodness from Loyola Press. All pictures are from Pixabay.)
On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being “a perfectionist or workaholic” and 10 being “someone who has no problem relaxing”) where do you put yourself?
What kind of activities, places, or things do you find relaxing?
What or who helps you to relax regularly? Do you help others to relax? If so, how?
Do you ever see a connection between your ability to relax and your trust in God?
PS: I am leading a retreat from Sunday, Aug. 4th to Saturday, Aug. 10th at the Sisters of Charity Retreat Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. The theme is: “How Can I Keep from Singing?” I ask you to please keep this retreat in your prayers. Thank you!
Here is a simple little song entitled “Come Aside.” It is written by Leonor dela Santa and sung by Hazel Tolentino. These recent words by Pope Francis seem a fitting introduction to this song: “We live with the accelerator down morning to night… This frantic pace ruins our mental health, spiritual health, and moral health…”
I invite you to respond to this reflection and/or song below!
Murphy's Law and a Few Corollaries
Most of us have heard of Murphy’s Law. It is the popular adage that says, “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong” or “Things will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them the chance.” Who wrote Murphy’s Law? No one knows for sure, but we do know its origin goes back pretty far.
Over the years, many other individuals have expanded on Murphy’s Law. Today I would like to share with you 20 corollaries of Murphy’s Law. I hope you have some fun with these:
- Nothing is as easy as it looks.
We learn Murphy’s Law and some of its corollaries very early in life…. - Everything takes longer than you think.
- Whenever you set out to do something, something else must be done first.
- Every solution breeds new problems.
- It is impossible to make anything foolproof, because fools are so ingenious.
- The other line moves faster.
- You always find something the last place you look.
- Any tool, when dropped, will roll into the least accessible corner of the workshop. (This law also applies to the top of a tube of toothpaste in the bathroom and a grape in the kitchen.)
- When all else fails, read the instructions.
- Military law: Never share a foxhole with anyone braver than you are.
- Anything can be made to work if you fiddle with it long enough.
- All machines are amplifiers.
- A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.
Sometimes in life we have more than a pebble in our shoe… - If you can’t convince them, confuse them.
- The sum of intelligence on the planet is constant. The population is growing.
- Friends come and go; enemies accumulate.
- If a problem causes many meetings, the meetings eventually become more important than the problem.
- To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer.
- An expert is someone who knows more and more about less and less until he or she knows absolutely everything about nothing.
- First law of socio-genetics: Celibacy is not hereditary.
Did you enjoy any of these corollaries? If so, which one(s)?
Would you like to add any other corollaries to Murphy’s law below?
PS: Thank you for your prayers for this past weekend retreat in Syracuse. Altogether we were 18 women contemplating and discussing HOPE and her two sisters, FAITH and LOVE–and one of Hope’s daughters, COURAGE. It was a weekend of blessings with some wonderful, faith-filled women. Special thanks to Judy and Melanie for their invaluable assistance!
I thought we could use an upbeat song after reading all these corollaries of Murphy’s Law. So here’s a very positive and lively song by Tasha Layton, an American Idol winner. It’s called “Love Lifting Me” and it reminds us that God’s love and grace are ever-present to help us when things don’t go our way in life.
I invite you to respond to this reflection below. We all love to hear from our readers!
Murphy’s Law and a Few Corollaries
Most of us have heard of Murphy’s Law. It is the popular adage that says, “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong” or “Things will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them the chance.” Who wrote Murphy’s Law? No one knows for sure, but we do know its origin goes back pretty far.
Over the years, many other individuals have expanded on Murphy’s Law. Today I would like to share with you 20 corollaries of Murphy’s Law. I hope you have some fun with these:
- Nothing is as easy as it looks.
We learn Murphy’s Law and some of its corollaries very early in life…. - Everything takes longer than you think.
- Whenever you set out to do something, something else must be done first.
- Every solution breeds new problems.
- It is impossible to make anything foolproof, because fools are so ingenious.
- The other line moves faster.
- You always find something the last place you look.
- Any tool, when dropped, will roll into the least accessible corner of the workshop. (This law also applies to the top of a tube of toothpaste in the bathroom and a grape in the kitchen.)
- When all else fails, read the instructions.
- Military law: Never share a foxhole with anyone braver than you are.
- Anything can be made to work if you fiddle with it long enough.
- All machines are amplifiers.
- A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.
Sometimes in life we have more than a pebble in our shoe… - If you can’t convince them, confuse them.
- The sum of intelligence on the planet is constant. The population is growing.
- Friends come and go; enemies accumulate.
- If a problem causes many meetings, the meetings eventually become more important than the problem.
- To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer.
- An expert is someone who knows more and more about less and less until he or she knows absolutely everything about nothing.
- First law of socio-genetics: Celibacy is not hereditary.
Did you enjoy any of these corollaries? If so, which one(s)?
Would you like to add any other corollaries to Murphy’s law below?
PS: Thank you for your prayers for this past weekend retreat in Syracuse. Altogether we were 18 women contemplating and discussing HOPE and her two sisters, FAITH and LOVE–and one of Hope’s daughters, COURAGE. It was a weekend of blessings with some wonderful, faith-filled women. Special thanks to Judy and Melanie for their invaluable assistance!
I thought we could use an upbeat song after reading all these corollaries of Murphy’s Law. So here’s a very positive and lively song by Tasha Layton, an American Idol winner. It’s called “Love Lifting Me” and it reminds us that God’s love and grace are ever-present to help us when things don’t go our way in life.
I invite you to respond to this reflection below. We all love to hear from our readers!
"God's not Finished with Me Yet"
I like Brandon Heath’s song, “God’s not Finished with Me Yet”—also known as “Wait and See.” It is a reminder that God is still at work in my life.
I know, in one way we can use those words as an excuse for our faults and shortcomings. We can say, “I know I was crabby… I know I was unkind… I know I was mean…but God is not finished with me yet. I’m not perfect. So just put up with me the way I am.”
But I think the words can have deeper and wider implications. God is not finished with ME yet. God is not finished 
with US yet. God is not finished with THE WORLD yet. God is still actively involved in our lives and in our world. God is still creating, is still at work—with us—bringing about that better world we are longing for.
Yet, sometimes we act as if God were finished working. We live as if Divine Revelation ended with the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus. The Catholic Church formally teaches that Divine Revelation ended with the death of St. John, the last apostle. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” But the Catechism adds, “Yet even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit; it remains for Christian faith to grasp its full significance over the course of centuries.”
But I like what Barbara Brown Taylor says about God not being finished with us yet. She is an Episcopal priest and one of my favorite writers:
God is not through with us yet. At our worst moments, both individually and corporately, we act as if that were so. We act as if creation had all been finished a long, long time ago and encased in glass, where we may look at it through the 
grime of the centuries but may not touch. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Holy Spirit still moves over the face of the waters, God still breathes life into piles of dust, Jesus still shouts us from our tombs. The deep river of revelation still runs strong from the fresh headwaters of its source to its jewel-encrusted banks in the heavenly city, with power to drench our days along the way. (The Preaching Life, p. 53)
Brown’s slant on this topic increases our personal responsibility to stay connected with God—consciously–especially through our personal prayer, our pondering of the scriptures, our reflection on our personal life, our appreciation of creation, and awareness of the needs of others in the world. The fact that divine revelation continues, means I must be open to new insights or to new applications of “old” insights. It means I must try to partner with God—using my specific gifts and my unique personality—to respond to the current local, national, and world situation in order to help bring about a world of peace, justice, and love.
What are some of the ways you consciously stay connected with God?
Name one specific gift you have that you are using to partner with God to “bring about a better world.”
Be on the lookout today for signs of the Holy Spirit moving over the waters, God breathing “piles of dust” into life, and Jesus shouting someone from their tomb.
PS: A big “Thank you” for your prayers for our SND gathering last week in Columbus! It was an important step in choosing our new leadership and becoming one USA province in 2020. And please remember in your prayers the weekend retreat I will be leading in Syracuse, NY July 19-21 at Christ the King Retreat Center. I really appreciate your prayerful support in these endeavors!
Our song today is Brandon Heath’s “He’s not Finished with Me Yet,” also known as “Wait and See.”
What are some of your thoughts on this reflection? Please respond below!
