Poems Inspired by Joy Harjo's Works

She Had Some Horses

            By Joy Harjo

She had some horses.

She had horses who were bodies of sand.
She had horses who were maps drawn of blood.
She had horses who were skins of ocean water.
She had horses who were the blue air of sky.
She had horses who were fur and teeth.
She had horses who were clay and would break.
She had horses who were splintered red cliff.

She had some horses.

She had horses with full, brown thighs.
She had horses who laughed too much.
She had horses who threw rocks at glass houses.
She had horses who licked razor blades.

She had some horses.

She had horses who danced in their mothers' arms.
She had horses who thought they were the sun and their bodies shone and burned like stars.
She had horses who waltzed nightly on the moon.
She had horses who were much too shy, and kept quiet in stalls of their own making.

She had some horses.

She had horses who liked Creek Stomp Dance songs.
She had horses who cried in their beer.
She had horses who spit at male queens who made them afraid of themselves.
She had horses who said they weren't afraid.
She had horses who lied.
She had horses who told the truth, who were stripped bare of their tongues.

She had some horses.

She had horses who called themselves, "horse."
She had horses who called themselves, "spirit." and kept their voices secret and to themselves.
She had horses who had no names.
She had horses who had books of names.

She had some horses.

She had horses who whispered in the dark, who were afraid to speak.
She had horses who screamed out of fear of the silence, who carried knives to protect themselves from ghosts.
She had horses who waited for destruction.
She had horses who waited for resurrection.

She had some horses.

She had horses who got down on their knees for any savior.
She had horses who thought their high price had saved them.

She had some horses.

She had some horses she loved.
She had some horses she hated.

These were the same horses.

The Creation Story                         

By Joy Harjo                                                                                  
 I’m not afraid of love                        
or its consequences of light.
It’s not easy to say this
or anything when my entrails
dangle between paradise
and fear.

I am ashamed
I never had the words
to carry a friend from her death
to the stars
correctly.

Or the words to keep
my people safe
from drought
or gunshot.

The stars who were created by words
are circling over this house
formed of calcium, of blood-
This house
in danger of being torn apart
by stones of fear.

If these words can do anything
I say bless this house
with stars.

Transfix us with love.

She Walked, Wondered, and Asked Why?

            By Stephanie Bauman: Inspired by "She Had Some Horses"

            She waltzed down the bustling street.

            She walked down the street questioning why he had said that.
She walked down the street doubting that he was serious.
She walked down the street asking herself what her problem was?
She walked down the street thinking that she wasn’t good enough.

            She waltzed down the bustling street.

            She wondered if she would be able to replace him.
She wondered if she would be able to love like she loved him again.
She wondered if she was ever accepted.

            She waltzed down the bustling street.

            She asked why me?
She asked what did I do that made our relationship fall from the heavens to the core of the earth?
She asked why does he think of me in such a different way from the day we met?
She asked why now, this day, this year when I thought he loved me?

            She walked, wondered, and asked why?

My Husband’s Story

By Stephanie Bauman: Inspired by "The Creation Story"

I’m afraid of failure
to pay the rent.

It’s not easy to work
two jobs and pay
my husband’s costly medical bills.

I am ashamed
of his sickness
that he is suffocated by each day
and wrongly
diagnosed the first three times.

And the alarming words that keep
being reiterated
by the know it all doctors
and nurses.

The stars who were created by words
are blessing my family
that gets by each day
barely by hope.

 This soul
in danger of being confiscated and sold
by the disease.

If these words can do anything
please save my husband
and provide and consecrate my family
with hope.

Transfix us with this wish.