Joy Harjo's Web Log

Just finished sending my first podcast, It's Raining in Honolulu. Actually should be it's raining and raining and raining here. I keep remembering Tayo cursing the rain in Silko's "Ceremony" (no underlining available here), and how his curse contributed to the drought. So, I don't curse rather make friends with the rain, rather, thank it for the cleansing and ask that it cross over the water to my friends and relatives in New Mexico and Oklahoma. They would welcome a visit. In fact, the rain could move in for awhile, all their relatives,too. I was saddened to see the Rio Grande nearly completely dry when I was back that way last week.

The podcast took several hours of technical manueverings just to get a simple voice recording to here, and my webmaster Karen Strom's patient guidance. I have found that even these machines and programs respond to the energy of touch, focus and emotional field. If I get upset they go more haywire (or haysignal) so I walk away, breath instead of spewing venom. Venom only attracts venom. And I've upgraded and what used to work just doesn't now. Even systems resist change!

I planned on adding a touch of John Coltrane's "After the Rain", on my horn, not his because of copyright. I love this tune because it is soulful, it is Coltrane talking to god, to the god of heartbreak after a sweet and needed rain. And it will give me the perspective of "after the rain".

What's most disturbing is the relentless pouring of sewage into the ocean via the Ala Wai Canal because of flooding and faulty pipes. When I flew in a few days ago and we dipped toward the city before landing, the Ala Wai and the boat harbor there were brown with sewage. I wanted to go swimming when I got back. Can't.

We are witnessing the end of an age. We must make note of it, write and sing about it so people remember, so that this ongoing disrespect of the earth, the creatures, plants, stars, planets, all life does not happen again.