Joy Harjo's "Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings"

Poems as Teachers, Episode 02

Dear friends, 

Today’s episode of Poetry Unbound’s “Poems as Teachers: Conflict and the Human Condition” features some of Joy Harjo’s brilliant poem “Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings.” The episode is in your podcast feed, but you can also listen to it here.  

Taking a fairly typical outline of conflict mediation, Joy Harjo has written a response to each — 2 of which we feature here. The full 6 sections are: 

1. SET CONFLICT RESOLUTION GROUND RULES:

2. USE EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION SKILLS THAT DISPLAY AND ENHANCE MUTUAL TRUST AND RESPECT:

3. GIVE CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK:

4. REDUCE DEFENSIVENESS AND BREAK THE DEFENSIVENESS CHAIN:

5. ELIMINATE NEGATIVE ATTITUDES DURING CONFLICT:

6. AND, USE WHAT YOU LEARN TO RESOLVE YOUR OWN CONFLICTS AND TO MEDIATE OTHERS' CONFLICTS:

For this episode, we are featuring section 1 and 5 of this longer poem. Mostly I chose these 2 because they worked within the time constraints of an episode. I love what she does by reframing “Ground Rules” from the point of view of “Ground” — as she says: “The land is a being who remembers everything.” That “who,” my god. 

All of us operate according to some framework or guidelines in conflict, whether set or extemporaneous. It changes according to context, of course: the powers that sit with the different parties to a dispute; the relationship between the people; the threat; the trust or time available; the shared history; the imagined future … 

In the comments, I’d love to hear what comes to mind when you’re engaging with the wisdom of Joy Harjo’s poem: the ground, the imperative, the hotel sink, the “language of justice,” the panther, the prey, the song, the depiction of the world, the demand on the human. 

(And if you want to read the full text of Joy’s brilliant poem, you can find it, kindly shared by the Poetry Foundation, here.) 

I’ll see you in the comments, friends. 

Pádraig 

PS: For these weekday Substacks, we’re omitting the events listed in the Poetry in the World section, but you can find them by looking at the Substack for Sunday 11 May. 

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