Joy Harjo dedicated the poem “Equinox” to Lena Home, and singer actress and civil rights activist. The poem implies that Lena Homes life was not in vain, that the equinox has come and the new way of live will begin, the ground will thaw and once again the seeds will grow. Thus poem can represent either Joy’s or Lena’s life, the struggle, the pain and the war that is internal and internal.
The By burying the dead and making songs, it is implied that the speaker has made her peace. She acknowledges that whatever has happened she will have to answer for, but the war that was internal and addiction to the fighting must stop.
This poem is very ambiguous, there is a particular tone of pain and sorrow that is evident in it.
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Yes, made peace w/herself, by turning the suffering of the history of people and a culture into song--i.e., poetry; much of the imagery is Native American, Harjo's cultural roots...
ReplyDeleteBTW--forgot to mention, the singer who died this past week is Leana Horne (not Home). This poem, pubished in 2002, was performed for her as a tribute. Though not written for Horne, the personal and cultural history of strife the poem images, and the need to finally bury those dead and move on, as the crocuses pushing through the "frozen [i.e, psychologically/emotinally paralyzing circumstances] earth" (an earth stunned by that suffering)teaches us, can apply to Horne and African-Americans as well as Harjo and Native Americans. You can view Harjo's tribute performance of this poem and others on Youtube.
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