Joy Harjo: Perhaps the World Ends Here
The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live.
The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table. So it has
been since creation, and it will go on.
We chase chickens or dogs away from it. Babies teethe at the corners.
They scrape their knees under it.
It is here that children are given instructions on what it means to be
human. We make men at it, we make women.
At this table we gossip, recall enemies and the ghosts of lovers.
Our dreams drink coffee with us as they put their arms around our
children. They laugh with us at our poor falling-down selves and as we
put ourselves back together once again at the table.
This table has been a house in the rain, an umbrella in the sun.
Wars have begun and ended at this table. It is a place to hide in the
shadow of terror. A place to celebrate the terrible victory.
We have given birth on this table, and have prepared our parents for
burial here.
At this table we sing with joy, with sorrow. We pray of suffering and
remorse. We give thanks.
Perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table, while we are laughing and
crying, eating of the last sweet bite.
Discussion Questions
Which line or series of lines resonate for you?
How do these lines remind you of spaces in your own life? Which ones and why?
What is a story you want to tell, but haven’t yet started to put to words? What’s one step you can take towards telling it?
Reflections from #MedHumChat
“the World Begins at the Kitchen Table, the first line, resonates profoundly, how cooking and talking, growing and living, and dying happen around the kitchen table. We are what we eat and how we do it, connected to earth through it...” —@lfernandezi
“"At this table we sing with joy, with sorrow"...etc. It's been different this past year due to the pandemic for sure. Dichotomy in this phrase. Balancing joy of being together again are 5D's- Deaths, distancing, disabilities, despair, division in the world” —@sjfcommo
“Lately, the story I struggle to write is about the last 20 months. I've written some, but fiction is so much easier lately than reflecting on being a palliative care doc during a pandemic. Working on it - have time blocked off” —@ShireenNHeidari
About this #MedHumChat
“Perhaps the World Ends Here” was paired with “In This Place (An American Lyric)” by Amanda Gorman for a #MedHumChat on December 1, 2021 about The Stories We Tell.
The pieces for this chat as well as the accompanying discussion questions were curated by Dr. Shireen Heidari (@ShireenNHeidari)
About the Author
Joy Harjo is an internationally renowned performer and writer of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. She is serving her second term as the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States.
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