August 17, 2026 • 12 mins
In this classic, we share some updates on the life and works of Native American activist, poet, musician and artist Joy Harjo.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this Sanny and Samantha. I come to stuff. I
never told your reflection if I heard you. And today
we have an exciting update about an activist around the world,
don't we Samantha.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yes, we are talking about Joy Harjoe native poet and advocate.
We love it and she has just released an album.
So this is from Nativenewsonline dot net Insomnia and Seven
Steps of Grace, a new album that infuses lyrical poetry
sung by Joy Harjo with the jazz sounds from Grammy
Award winning artist Esperanda Spaulding. So Joe Harjo, the musician, activist,
(00:49):
and former National Poet Laureate, will release her new album
on April twenty four. So it's just been released obviously
this year via Smithsonian folk Ways. So this year being
twenty twenty six, always forget to put that, but yes,
April twenty twenty six, they released her album. It's produced
by Gramy winning composer, bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding. So
(01:10):
it is Harjo's debut release for the label that was
part of that article. So if you go to her
sitewww dot Joyharjo dot com, they write this on the
album Harjo trends the fertile ground at the intersection of
jazz and poetry, leaning into the improvisational aspects of both,
while incorporating other sonic touchstones from throughout her life, prog rock, grunge,
(01:32):
and crucially, the traditional music of native communities throughout the Southwest.
Quote this musical project has found its footing during a
time a thick layer turmoil throughout our community's, Harjo writes
in the album's existsive liner notes, which gives shape to
Harjo's history as an artist, poet, and musician. So really excited.
You should definitely check out that album if you want
(01:52):
to go to our site. It does give a clip.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
It is beautiful.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
It is beautiful, and it feels like one of those
that you could just like ease into meditation almost and
she talks about the album being like a story the
way that they have mapped it out and how it
goes into it. So definitely something to check out. So
excited when we get to see amazing updates like this. Yes,
so please enjoy this classic episode. Hey, this is Anny
(02:21):
and Samantha and welcome to STEF. I never told your
protection of iHeartRadio and welcome We are currently entering Native
American Heritage Month here in the US, so of course
we had to start our activists around the world celebrating
(02:45):
a Native Indigenous activist and advocate. Yeah, just so you know,
I guess today is November fourth of twenty twenty four.
During November is when the US does the Native American
Heritage Month, not necessarily the same as the Indigenous People's Day,
which is when we do all instead of Columbus Day.
We've had many conversations about that. So because around what
(03:08):
is the US Thanksgiving? Realizing how kind of atrocious some
of these holidays are the US just like you know,
we're going to stamp a time of celebration for the
you know, oppressed peoples. So if people don't get too
upset with us, so this month is celebrated as Native
American Heritage Month. And of course there's also a big
(03:29):
conversation about like the commonalities of titles and names. We
have gone through waves of different types of names for
the Native American communities. A lot of the Natives, I think,
have said they'd rather be called First Nations, which makes
perfect sense. I've had people say that Native in general
just point blank and so there's a lot of deep
(03:51):
conversation Native Americans, even Harjoe, who we're about to talk about,
you know, like who has talked about this situation about
you know, being okay with say Native American as is.
But things can change. So please note at this point
in time it is Native American Heritage Month. If that
changes in the future, we will change with the times
as the preferences I've changed and will change throughout the years.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Just put that caveat there. I love it with that.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
But today we are celebrating, as we said, Joy Harjoe,
a poet, musician, writer, activist, so many things for her
native community and just Native communities in general. Harjo made
history by being named the first Native person to be
a US Poet Laureate, and she was appointed that in
twenty nineteen and served every year until twenty twenty one.
(04:38):
And she has been recognized for all her works before this,
and of course continues to get much praise since then.
So we're not just saying this is our only thing,
but it was pretty big significance. As you know, we
love to talk about first in general, which is atrocious
that it was anyway, Like, there's so many things when
it comes to writing and arts where the people of
(04:59):
color just left behind because the system is racist.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
But anyway, still we're gonna celebrate this.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
As I say this in a very negative, pessimistic way,
but we celebrate her and the fact that she was
the first to be appointed as a Poet Laureate in
twenty nineteen and again, as we said, she saved for
three years. Harjo was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in nineteen
fifty one and is a part of the Muskogee Creek Nation,
and though her childhood was a rough one, she was
(05:29):
able to turn to her love for the arts and
education as a way of coping. In her teenage years.
Harjo talked about how she joined an all Native rock
band she wrote songs for them, and then also a
theater group at the Institute of American Indian Arts or IAIA,
in New Mexico.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
And it was here she really started to understand the
importance of her heritage and of art. She told Southwest
Contemporary magazine this about her experience, quote, I was there
during the time of the contemporary Native art revitalization that
changed everything in the art world. It was an exciting
time to be at IAIA. Even we younger high school
(06:08):
students knew we were in the middle of a crucial
time in Indian country politics and thought we were part
of the generational current in which we were thinking about
cultural sovereignty before sovereignty was a common word on our tongues.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Right and throughout her life, she was only grown in
her love for her community into bringing awareness for her community.
And it was through her art that she was able
to express herself and a love for her people. Here's
a bit from womenhistory dot Org. Harjo had a hard
time speaking out loud because of her many harsh experiences.
She said, quote, I remember the teachers at school threatening
to write my parents because I was not speaking in class,
(06:44):
but I was terrified. Instead, Harjo started painting as a
way to express herself. And yeah, she even talked about
the influences in her life as well. They said, growing up,
Harjo was surrounded by artists and musicians, but she didn't
know any poets. Her mother wrote songs and her grandmother
her aunts were both artists. These influential women inspired Harjo
to explore her creative side. Harjo recalls the very first
(07:07):
poem she wrote, which was in eighth grade, which I
feel like you and I have had these experiences as well.
We're like poetry. I have a feeling it's not on
her level, Like pretty sure about that, but still we
understand this need. So after graduating school, Harjo would go
on to attend the University of New Mexico and eventually
(07:27):
published a book of our Poems in nineteen seventy five
titled The Last Song, which includes like nine of her poems.
After graduating, Harjo went on to attend the University of
Iowa for a Master of Fine Arts, and then she
continued her education at several other institutes for film and
other arts.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
So she just kept going.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I feel like she just loved the exploration part, and
I love that for her. And though she continues her
time in the different variations of artistry, including painting and music,
her love for poetry remains.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yes. And here's what she told Southwest Contemporary dot Com
when they asked her about the role of poetry and
why she continues to write it. Quote, I believe the
role of poetry is what it has always been. Our
hearts get broken again and again, but can be put
back together again with poetry. It is the art closest
to music. It Trump's rhetoric can carry grief, ecstasy, celebration
(08:23):
of despair, or joy. It is a tool for the
kind of disruption needed to clean a wound and heal.
It predicts how we will know who we are in
forthcoming generations. Without it, we will no longer be human.
I keep writing poems because it is kind of a
calling one I didn't actually choose. I was in an
art path. I loved painting and photography. Poetry first came
(08:45):
to me through music. My very early years are marked
by my mother's song making and love of poetry. I
loved poetry, but had no intention of becoming a poet.
It came upon me and essentially asked me to take
care of it. Poetry has become my most teacher. On
that I honor with poetry and music.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
That sounds like a poem right there. I love just
her interviews like that as well, so.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
With the many books she has written. She's also written
in autobiography. In it, she speaks about her becoming an
advocate for her community and the Native people. In an
NPR interview, they asked her about this and she said, quote,
the sixties, I equated with you know, civil rights, you
know it was a humanity alert that this country is huge,
there's more of us, and not everyone has equal rights.
(09:41):
In the late sixties, I was at Indian boarding school
in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Not your usual boarding school,
but it was an art school, and I remember hearing
about Martin Luther King being killed and all of that
was on the news. And we were all young Native
artists there from eighth grade to two years postgraduate. We'd
stay up late nights talking and making art together and
talking about what it meant to be a Native person
(10:03):
and about history and about how our art was part
it was part of history making. And she continues, and
I think what I've become to realize that what has
motivated my art making is really a strong need for justice,
for people to be treated for everyone. And when I
say people, I also mean animals and insects and the birds,
and the earth and the earth person that we are
all part of that. There's a key element, and that's respect.
(10:26):
And you know, when I became more actively involved as
a student at the University of New Mexico, I was
painting then and just starting to write poetry. I remember thinking,
if my work does nothing else, when I get to
the end of my life. I want Native peoples to
be seen as human beings. And this message has been
something she's been spreading in her poems, books, songs, and paintings,
(10:47):
and along with her being appointed as a Poet Laureate
for three years, she has earned many other accolades, including
winning Yale's twenty twenty three Bulligan Prize for American Poetry.
And of course she has won awards for her music
album as well, including a recent work she just did.
And with all of that, we also had to end
(11:07):
with one of her poems. So that's how we're going
to go. Apologies if we butcher it as pretty usual,
and this one is called fire. A woman can't survive
by her own breath alone. She must know the voices
of mountains. She must recognize the foreverness of blue sky.
She must flow with the elusive bodies of night winds
(11:29):
who will take her into herself.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Look at me. I am not a separate woman. I
am a continuance of blue sky. I am the throat
of the mountains night wind who burns with every breath
she takes.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Gorgeous and yeah, she has like ten books, I believe
just of her poetry alone, so definitely worth reading. She
has a lot out there that's just open, so if
you just want to look her up again. Her name
is Joe Harjoe. She's pretty famous, so just because we're
featuring her doesn't.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Mean she's not known obviously. Yeah, but we.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Just really wanted to celebrate what she is doing, give
her the flowers that she deserves, and many more as
she is still with us, and continue to see what
she does and how she publishes more and more of
our works.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Yes, yes, so go check her out listeners if you
have not already, and if you have and you have
favorite poem, we do love poems here, so send that
our way. You can email us at stephaniemom Stuff atiheartmedia
dot com. You can find us on Twitter at mom
Stuff podcast or on Instagram and TikTok at stuff I've
Never Told You. We have a tea public store and
a book you can get wherever you get your books.
(12:33):
Things is always to her a super producer, Christina, our
executive producer Maya, and your contributor Joey.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Thank you and thanks to you for listening.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Stuff I Never Told You is production of my Heart Radio.
For more podcasts from my heart Radio. You can check
out the heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
Hey, this Sanny and Samantha. I come to stuff. I
never told your reflection if I heard you. And today
we have an exciting update about an activist around the world,
don't we Samantha.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yes, we are talking about Joy Harjoe native poet and advocate.
We love it and she has just released an album.
So this is from Nativenewsonline dot net Insomnia and Seven
Steps of Grace, a new album that infuses lyrical poetry
sung by Joy Harjo with the jazz sounds from Grammy
Award winning artist Esperanda Spaulding. So Joe Harjo, the musician, activist,
(00:49):
and former National Poet Laureate, will release her new album
on April twenty four. So it's just been released obviously
this year via Smithsonian folk Ways. So this year being
twenty twenty six, always forget to put that, but yes,
April twenty twenty six, they released her album. It's produced
by Gramy winning composer, bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding. So
(01:10):
it is Harjo's debut release for the label that was
part of that article. So if you go to her
sitewww dot Joyharjo dot com, they write this on the
album Harjo trends the fertile ground at the intersection of
jazz and poetry, leaning into the improvisational aspects of both,
while incorporating other sonic touchstones from throughout her life, prog rock, grunge,
(01:32):
and crucially, the traditional music of native communities throughout the Southwest.
Quote this musical project has found its footing during a
time a thick layer turmoil throughout our community's, Harjo writes
in the album's existsive liner notes, which gives shape to
Harjo's history as an artist, poet, and musician. So really excited.
You should definitely check out that album if you want
(01:52):
to go to our site. It does give a clip.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
It is beautiful.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
It is beautiful, and it feels like one of those
that you could just like ease into meditation almost and
she talks about the album being like a story the
way that they have mapped it out and how it
goes into it. So definitely something to check out. So
excited when we get to see amazing updates like this. Yes,
so please enjoy this classic episode. Hey, this is Anny
(02:21):
and Samantha and welcome to STEF. I never told your
protection of iHeartRadio and welcome We are currently entering Native
American Heritage Month here in the US, so of course
we had to start our activists around the world celebrating
(02:45):
a Native Indigenous activist and advocate. Yeah, just so you know,
I guess today is November fourth of twenty twenty four.
During November is when the US does the Native American
Heritage Month, not necessarily the same as the Indigenous People's Day,
which is when we do all instead of Columbus Day.
We've had many conversations about that. So because around what
(03:08):
is the US Thanksgiving? Realizing how kind of atrocious some
of these holidays are the US just like you know,
we're going to stamp a time of celebration for the
you know, oppressed peoples. So if people don't get too
upset with us, so this month is celebrated as Native
American Heritage Month. And of course there's also a big
(03:29):
conversation about like the commonalities of titles and names. We
have gone through waves of different types of names for
the Native American communities. A lot of the Natives, I think,
have said they'd rather be called First Nations, which makes
perfect sense. I've had people say that Native in general
just point blank and so there's a lot of deep
(03:51):
conversation Native Americans, even Harjoe, who we're about to talk about,
you know, like who has talked about this situation about
you know, being okay with say Native American as is.
But things can change. So please note at this point
in time it is Native American Heritage Month. If that
changes in the future, we will change with the times
as the preferences I've changed and will change throughout the years.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Just put that caveat there. I love it with that.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
But today we are celebrating, as we said, Joy Harjoe,
a poet, musician, writer, activist, so many things for her
native community and just Native communities in general. Harjo made
history by being named the first Native person to be
a US Poet Laureate, and she was appointed that in
twenty nineteen and served every year until twenty twenty one.
(04:38):
And she has been recognized for all her works before this,
and of course continues to get much praise since then.
So we're not just saying this is our only thing,
but it was pretty big significance. As you know, we
love to talk about first in general, which is atrocious
that it was anyway, Like, there's so many things when
it comes to writing and arts where the people of
(04:59):
color just left behind because the system is racist.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
But anyway, still we're gonna celebrate this.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
As I say this in a very negative, pessimistic way,
but we celebrate her and the fact that she was
the first to be appointed as a Poet Laureate in
twenty nineteen and again, as we said, she saved for
three years. Harjo was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in nineteen
fifty one and is a part of the Muskogee Creek Nation,
and though her childhood was a rough one, she was
(05:29):
able to turn to her love for the arts and
education as a way of coping. In her teenage years.
Harjo talked about how she joined an all Native rock
band she wrote songs for them, and then also a
theater group at the Institute of American Indian Arts or IAIA,
in New Mexico.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
And it was here she really started to understand the
importance of her heritage and of art. She told Southwest
Contemporary magazine this about her experience, quote, I was there
during the time of the contemporary Native art revitalization that
changed everything in the art world. It was an exciting
time to be at IAIA. Even we younger high school
(06:08):
students knew we were in the middle of a crucial
time in Indian country politics and thought we were part
of the generational current in which we were thinking about
cultural sovereignty before sovereignty was a common word on our tongues.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Right and throughout her life, she was only grown in
her love for her community into bringing awareness for her community.
And it was through her art that she was able
to express herself and a love for her people. Here's
a bit from womenhistory dot Org. Harjo had a hard
time speaking out loud because of her many harsh experiences.
She said, quote, I remember the teachers at school threatening
to write my parents because I was not speaking in class,
(06:44):
but I was terrified. Instead, Harjo started painting as a
way to express herself. And yeah, she even talked about
the influences in her life as well. They said, growing up,
Harjo was surrounded by artists and musicians, but she didn't
know any poets. Her mother wrote songs and her grandmother
her aunts were both artists. These influential women inspired Harjo
to explore her creative side. Harjo recalls the very first
(07:07):
poem she wrote, which was in eighth grade, which I
feel like you and I have had these experiences as well.
We're like poetry. I have a feeling it's not on
her level, Like pretty sure about that, but still we
understand this need. So after graduating school, Harjo would go
on to attend the University of New Mexico and eventually
(07:27):
published a book of our Poems in nineteen seventy five
titled The Last Song, which includes like nine of her poems.
After graduating, Harjo went on to attend the University of
Iowa for a Master of Fine Arts, and then she
continued her education at several other institutes for film and
other arts.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
So she just kept going.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I feel like she just loved the exploration part, and
I love that for her. And though she continues her
time in the different variations of artistry, including painting and music,
her love for poetry remains.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Yes. And here's what she told Southwest Contemporary dot Com
when they asked her about the role of poetry and
why she continues to write it. Quote, I believe the
role of poetry is what it has always been. Our
hearts get broken again and again, but can be put
back together again with poetry. It is the art closest
to music. It Trump's rhetoric can carry grief, ecstasy, celebration
(08:23):
of despair, or joy. It is a tool for the
kind of disruption needed to clean a wound and heal.
It predicts how we will know who we are in
forthcoming generations. Without it, we will no longer be human.
I keep writing poems because it is kind of a
calling one I didn't actually choose. I was in an
art path. I loved painting and photography. Poetry first came
(08:45):
to me through music. My very early years are marked
by my mother's song making and love of poetry. I
loved poetry, but had no intention of becoming a poet.
It came upon me and essentially asked me to take
care of it. Poetry has become my most teacher. On
that I honor with poetry and music.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
That sounds like a poem right there. I love just
her interviews like that as well, so.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
With the many books she has written. She's also written
in autobiography. In it, she speaks about her becoming an
advocate for her community and the Native people. In an
NPR interview, they asked her about this and she said, quote,
the sixties, I equated with you know, civil rights, you
know it was a humanity alert that this country is huge,
there's more of us, and not everyone has equal rights.
(09:41):
In the late sixties, I was at Indian boarding school
in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Not your usual boarding school,
but it was an art school, and I remember hearing
about Martin Luther King being killed and all of that
was on the news. And we were all young Native
artists there from eighth grade to two years postgraduate. We'd
stay up late nights talking and making art together and
talking about what it meant to be a Native person
(10:03):
and about history and about how our art was part
it was part of history making. And she continues, and
I think what I've become to realize that what has
motivated my art making is really a strong need for justice,
for people to be treated for everyone. And when I
say people, I also mean animals and insects and the birds,
and the earth and the earth person that we are
all part of that. There's a key element, and that's respect.
(10:26):
And you know, when I became more actively involved as
a student at the University of New Mexico, I was
painting then and just starting to write poetry. I remember thinking,
if my work does nothing else, when I get to
the end of my life. I want Native peoples to
be seen as human beings. And this message has been
something she's been spreading in her poems, books, songs, and paintings,
(10:47):
and along with her being appointed as a Poet Laureate
for three years, she has earned many other accolades, including
winning Yale's twenty twenty three Bulligan Prize for American Poetry.
And of course she has won awards for her music
album as well, including a recent work she just did.
And with all of that, we also had to end
(11:07):
with one of her poems. So that's how we're going
to go. Apologies if we butcher it as pretty usual,
and this one is called fire. A woman can't survive
by her own breath alone. She must know the voices
of mountains. She must recognize the foreverness of blue sky.
She must flow with the elusive bodies of night winds
(11:29):
who will take her into herself.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Look at me. I am not a separate woman. I
am a continuance of blue sky. I am the throat
of the mountains night wind who burns with every breath
she takes.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Gorgeous and yeah, she has like ten books, I believe
just of her poetry alone, so definitely worth reading. She
has a lot out there that's just open, so if
you just want to look her up again. Her name
is Joe Harjoe. She's pretty famous, so just because we're
featuring her doesn't.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
Mean she's not known obviously. Yeah, but we.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Just really wanted to celebrate what she is doing, give
her the flowers that she deserves, and many more as
she is still with us, and continue to see what
she does and how she publishes more and more of
our works.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Yes, yes, so go check her out listeners if you
have not already, and if you have and you have
favorite poem, we do love poems here, so send that
our way. You can email us at stephaniemom Stuff atiheartmedia
dot com. You can find us on Twitter at mom
Stuff podcast or on Instagram and TikTok at stuff I've
Never Told You. We have a tea public store and
a book you can get wherever you get your books.
(12:33):
Things is always to her a super producer, Christina, our
executive producer Maya, and your contributor Joey.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Thank you and thanks to you for listening.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Stuff I Never Told You is production of my Heart Radio.
For more podcasts from my heart Radio. You can check
out the heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
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