What changes a person isn't usually punishment or advice but the moment they experience enough warmth, steadiness, or recognition to stop organising themselves around shame — and from there, the desire to help the next person through becomes possible in a way fear never produces.

This week's reflection: https://emotus.substack.com/p/daily-reflection-2025-05-21

#JoyHarjo #LifeboatAcademy #StayHuman #CommunityCare #ClimateResilience

You remember the room, or the table, or the particular light, and the way the conversation moved without anyone steering it, and how at some point you stopped being aware of yourself and noticed instead the faces of the others, their ease, the way they laughed, and you knew, without quite thinking it, that this was the thing. Then it was over. And you still go back there.

This week's reflection @ https://emotus.substack.com/p/permission-to-be-seen

#JoyHarjo #LifeboatAcademy #Farmastery #StayHuman

The bones of native peoples

Imagine if we natives went to the cemeteries in your cities and dug up your beloved relatives, pulled off rings, watches, and clothes and called them “artefacts,” then carried the bones over to the university for study so we could understand you. Consider that there are more bones of native people in universities and museums for study, than there are those of us living.

https://youtu.be/F3eHJYPId1k?feature=shared

Content Catnip

We all have our helpers in seen and unseen realms

We all have helpers in seen and unseen realms.
Give them something to do.
Otherwise, they will grow inattentive with boredom.
They can clean junk from your mind,
Find the opening note for the chorus of a song,
Or give a grandchild a safe path through the dark.
They will not give you winning numbers at the casino,
Wash your dishes, or take out an enemy.
Thank them.
Feed them once in a while.

From ‘Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings’ by Native American Poet Laureate Joy Harjo

Content Catnip

A #panther poised in the cypress tree about to jump is a panther poised in a cypress tree about to jump.

The panther is a poem of fire green eyes and a heart charged by four winds of four directions. From 'Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings' by #Native American #Poet Laureate #JoyHarjo


http://contentcatnip.com/2025/11/26/a-panther-is-a-poem-with-the-fire-green-eyes/

I was desire's dog.
I ate when I was fed. I did what I was told.
I knew how to sit, stand and roll over on command.
When I was petted, I was made whole.
Even when I dreamed, I dreamed a chain around my neck.
Desire is a bone with traces of fat.
It's the wag smell of a bitch in heat.
It's that pinched hit at the end of a beat.
It's a stick thrown into a rabbit chase.

#AmReading #AnAmericanSunrise #JoyHarjo #Poetry #Literature

Harjo's poetry is deeply rooted in her ancestral roots and the intergenerational #trauma of #colonisation. Her collection is a profound #meditation on the lives, struggles, and resilience of all indigenous peoples. #Indigenous #native #literature #books #bookreview #JoyHarjo #Poetry #poems

http://contentcatnip.com/2025/10/12/book-review-conflict-resolution-for-holy-beings-by-joy-harjo/