We are Earth: Joy Harjo鈥檚 Call for Us to 鈥淩emember鈥�
聽Joy Harjo reminds readers of their metaphysical relationship with the earth and how this entails a sense of interconnectedness and responsibility.
By Jesse Julian | April 2025
Joy Harjo鈥檚 title echoes over and over again, like a whisper from the writing itself鈥攔emember, remember, gently urging the reader to dig into their memory. This repetition appears at the start of each line, serving as a source of structure for her free verse.
She creates a sense of space and location, pointing the reader鈥檚 attention upwards at the sky. A hierarchy is established, but also reversed; while she reminds the reader that they are under the sky, the stars become humanlike by possessing a story. This personification extends through different celestial images, such as the feminine moon and the birth of the sun. A faraway, distant piece of our universe now feels a little more familiar and humanized.
She then points to the reader themself, commanding: 鈥淩emember your birth, how your mother struggled to give you form and breath.鈥� After recounting the conception of the world itself, she asks the reader to recount their own conception鈥攜et the focus extends beyond the reader. The reader serves as evidence of an ancestral past鈥攑roof of those who have come before. These lines suggest an interconnectedness between the self, the bloodline, and the cosmos.
She also reminds us that the fellow inhabitants of earth鈥斺�漷he plants, trees, animal life鈥濃�攈ave their own stories and voices worthy of listening to. 鈥淭hey are alive poems,鈥� she states, implying that they are not always explicit in their desires or feelings, yet they are worthy of decoding and interpretation. Paying attention to the organisms that live alongside humanity brings us closer to understanding who we are.
The later portion of 鈥淩emember鈥� most directly relates to Earth Day, as this addresses the unity between humanity and the natural world. 鈥�...we are earth鈥� she asserts, describing how our skin consists of various earthly colors. Harjo tells the reader that they are the universe. The self serves as a source of growth and life.
To ask us to 鈥渞emember鈥� implies that this is something we already know. We must tap into our prior knowledge (or perhaps an innate spiritual understanding) of our origin and belonging in the universe. By also drawing these connections, Harjo assigns a sense of responsibility for the planet onto the reader; our relationship with the earth must be governed by care and compassion.
Schiller鈥檚 mission urges the individual, regardless of discipline, to address critical societal issues related to the environment. Joy Harjo鈥檚 鈥淩emember鈥� reminds readers to fulfill their responsibility to the universe. Both Schiller and Harjo embrace the theme of Earth Day 2025: 鈥淥ur Power, Our Planet.鈥� We hope that today and everyday, you remember your responsibility to this planet. Happy Earth Day!