[Communique: 01.01.03]

Remember: Letter to a Young Indian Poet

by Joy Harjo

Remember the sky that you were born under,
know each of the star's stories
Remember the moon, know who she is. I met her
in a bar once in Iowa City.
Remember the sun's birth at dawn, that is the
strongest point of time. Remember sundown
and the giving away to night.
Remember your birth, how your mother struggled
to give you form and breath. You are evidence of
her life, and her mother's, and hers.
Remember your father, his hands cradling
your mother's flesh, and maybe her heart, too
and maybe not.
He is your life, also.
Remember the earth whose skin you are.
Red earth blue earth yellow earth white
earth brown earth black earth we are earth.
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their
tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them,
listen to them. They are alive poems.
Remember the wind. Remember her voice she knows the origin
of this universe. I heard her singing Kiowa War Dance songs
on the courner of Fourth and Central in Albuquerque once.
Remember that you are all people and that all people are you.
Remember you are this universe and that
this universe is you.
Remember all the stories that you are.
Remember that all is in motion, is growing, is you.
Remember that language comes from this.
Remember the dance that language is, that life is.
Remember
to remember.