Offered by Marie Mc Guigan
Joy Harjo in “Becoming” from Poetry Prescription, chosen by Deborah Alma (MacmillanUK)
Joy Harjo is a native American with a rare particular gift in writing poems connecting into nature and all sentient beings. Two of her famous poems are “American Sunrise” and “Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings” which demand recognition and a return to the sovereignty of the land.
Poem
Eagle Poem
Joy Harjo
To pray you open your whole self
To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon
To one whole voice that is you.
And know there is more
That you can’t see, can’t hear;
Can’t know except in moments
Steadily growing, and in languages
That aren’t always sound but other
Circles of motion.
Like eagle that Sunday morning
Over Salt River. Circled in blue sky
In wind, swept our hearts clean
With sacred wings.
We see you, see ourselves and know
That we must take the utmost care
And kindness in all things.
Breathe in, knowing we are made of
All this, and breathe, knowing
We are truly blessed because we
Were born, and die soon within a
True circle of motion,
Like eagle rounding out the morning
Inside us.
We pray that it will be done
In beauty.
In beauty.
Reflection
Focusing with Eagle Poem
I could sense into a widening place of spaciousness in the whole middle area of my body, feeling lighter. Something was resonating speaking out the words “circles of motion, true circles of motion” and “Like blessed we are born”. Then images came from The Lion King with the song “Circle of Life”. This brought a smile and a sense of interconnectedness, of being born, living, growing, blooming, decaying and dying, in it all, with it all and through it all. I ended taking some time to nurture what has come and thank my body for how it has spoken.
Marie Mc Guigan
29th January 2026
