Standing on stage, the speaker seems to melt into the shadows. Her dark clothing is almost hidden by the dimming lights of the auditorium. Above her, bright, warm colored paintings of her grand-children change on the screen as she reads a poem in a deep voice to the audience. Somewhere beneath that voice, which speaks for generations, a turquoise bracelet peeks out of a dark jacket sleeve.

On May 1, Harjo, nationally renowned poet, musician, activist, and artist, visited Parker as the annual Hansell Endowed Poet. Harjo is the fifth visiting poet that has spoken in the evening event at Parker and met with students throughout the day.

Harjo’s work is based in so much more than just poetry. Harjo is critically acclaimed for her music collections, nationally recognized for her poetry and memoir, “Crazy Brave,” as well as known for her activism within the Native American community she grew up around.  While much of Harjo’s work may seem to focus on nature or spirituality, in between the lines lies an intricate story combining both Harjo’s youth and the history of her Native American culture.  

Throughout “Crazy Brave,” Harjo writes about the life she has led knowing that she was born of warriors and fighters.

At times she feels she has lived up to this knowledge. Other times, she’s been in doubt. “I wouldn’t, traditionally, call myself a warrior,” Harjo said. “I admire the qualities of a warrior–which are the finest qualities I suppose of any human: compassion, discernment, bravery, kindness, harmony, creating harmony, and speaking out.”

Harjo knows that every poet has her own way of making a poem.  “I have a notebook with me, and I write notes down–kind of a journal–but I’m inconsistent with it,” Harjo said. “I’ll write things down I see here, notes of things to remember, and sometimes just a phrase will just start haunting me. Sometimes I just starting writing in my journal, and it turns into a poem. They come in different ways.”

Each year, the members of the Hansell Memorial Poetry Series–including Head of the English Department Theresa Collins, Principal Dan Frank, Upper school English teacher Mike Mahany, and Parker parent, poet, and professor Elise Paschen–meet to deliberate the next year’s poet. Paschen and Harjo had known each other previously, and thus came the opportunity for Harjo to speak at Parker. Collins said, “Each year, we’ve actually been really lucky to have a personal connection to a poet, which was the case this year.”

Even before discovering that Paschen and Harjo knew each other, both Mahany and Upper school English teacher Bonnie Seebold have taught Harjo’s memoir, “Crazy Brave,” in their classrooms. This year, almost every English teacher taught poems by Harjo, additionally.  Apart from a few poems here and there, Seebold didn’t discover most of Harjo’s work until she saw Harjo speak in Chicago at The Poetry Foundation to promote the newly published “Crazy Brave.” “It’s tough, and the material is raw,” Seebold said. “I did it last year, and it seemed to be interesting to the kids.”

After reading “Crazy Brave,” Seebold’s students were able to write their own short memoirs about certain periods in their lives. “I said, ‘Choose a period of time in your life and try to write about it,’” Seebold said. “I really loved what came out of the kids.” After the success of the experience with the book last year, Seebold decided to teach the book again to her freshman classes.  

In english teacher Matt Laufer’s American Literature class, his students studied some of Harjo’s poetry as well as writing poetry inspired by her work. Junior Zoe Gardner, a student in one of Laufer’s classes, was able to explore a new poetry through studying Harjo’s poetry. “I found her talk very informative,” Gardner said. “Her perspective on poetry is not like any I have learned about before.”

Every visiting poet brings something different to her or his presentation. For Frank, Harjo brought a unique life story and an array of talents to share with the school. “I especially liked her presentation of her art that included music,” Frank said.  “She played a flute, and then she also sang a version of the poem.  You had the experience of the same words but delivered differently, and what the difference in experience was, and how it touches you.”

For junior Natalia Hernandez, Harjo’s visit was a way for the school to hear a voice that is often not represented. “I thought it was nice that we got a woman of color to come and talk about poetry,” Hernandez said. “I think normally women of color who are writers they’re very underrepresented. I was happy that they brought her in especially because she was Native American.””

Each year, Parker’s visiting poet allows the school to experience a new perspective of a poet–beyond the pages of a book. “It’s always nice to hear a poet read his or her work, but for me, it’s really more about students seeing that people actually make a living being poets,” Seebold said. “It’s not just something that doesn’t exist, but it’s a really important part of culture. I sincerely believe that a society without culture, which includes poetry, is a society in decline. I love that we emphasize the arts so much.”

Both Seebold and Harjo see much of life and culture through poetry. “It is a living thing,” Harjo said. “Just look at all the poets and the books and recordings of poetry. If that’s not life, what is life? How do you describe life?”

As Harjo presented her poetry to the school, Frank saw the spirit of poetry that Harjo describes as she spoke. “She said it’s like, ‘I write the poem, I follow where the poem takes me,’” Frank said. “I’ve heard other writers who, when you get into the mode of creativity, and you’re into a character or a persona or in the moment you’re trying to describe, the words just present themselves. You have to get in the water. I really liked how she did that.”

Frank’s favorite poem of Harjo’s is “Perhaps the World Ends Here,” which begins, “The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live.” That idea couldn’t be more true for Harjo. “I write at my kitchen table–I used to have a desk, and I realized that I was never writing at a desk, and I prefer a kitchen table,” Harjo said. “It’s the center of the world.”

For Harjo, poetry is something that found her and continues to appear in all aspects of her life. “It is something living, and something that moves about, and there’s an exchange that happens with it,” Harjo said. “So of course it’s very much alive.”

So where will poetry take Harjo next? Even though she is cutting down on her travel to find more time to write and work on her music, Harjo will be traveling to Switzerland and Australia in the coming months to share even more of her story and her poetry.