Remember Powerfully
With my first glance at the title: Remember by Joy Harjo (presented in a Poetry Panel Project presentation), I thought that the poem would be about the speaker maintaining their cultural heritage. And indeed it was but what I did not expect was how powerful this poem could be. With just simple and everyday words, Harjo communicated her Native American identity, but most importantly she pushed her readers to never forget their own culture and heritage. One big fact to note is that in many Native American tribes, nature was a vital part of the culture. People admired their surrounding world and performed many religious rituals to honor this environment that gave us life. The importance of such in their culture is imperative and Harjo uses her poem to convey such. She mentions several times to remember “the moon,” “the sun’s birth,” “the earth,” “the plants, trees, animal life,” and a lot more. I found these really interesting because these hint towards her Native American identity ...