Happy Summer Solstice to our new Poet Laureate!

Astronomical Summer has finally caught up with Meteorological Summer. We have from now until September 23 to enjoy Summer, unless we are meteorologists, in which case Summer ends on September 1st. In either case, the odds are at least fair that we'll get to enjoy Summer's warmth until mid-October. We humans seem to have a phenomenal ability to make things complicated, don't we?

Summer Solstice often brings misty dawns

Photo by J. Harrington

Druids call the Summer Solstice "Alban Hefin, The Light of the Shore." The sun is the source for almost all the energy that supports life on this Earth of ours. Some think Summer is a time of extra energy. Others find the heat and humidity to be enervating. We're sure that this Summer will be delightfully portentous because, just prior to the Solstice, one of our favorite poets was named Poet Laureate of the United States. Joy Harjo will begin her term a few days before the Autumnal Equinox, on September 19.

We look forward to seeing what she does with the opportunity this appointment presents to the first Native American to hold this position. We cannot think of a more deserving poet to be selected for the 2019-2020 term, particularly in light of the title of one of her most recent volumes of poetry, Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings (Norton, 2015). These times we are living in drive us to need all the help possible with the growing numbers of daily and monumental conflicts we encounter or create. Perhaps we would have fewer conflicts and would enjoy life and poetry more if we took time to celebrate more folk festivals like today's Solstice and, as Harjo has written, to

Remember

Joy Harjo- 1951-

Remember the sky that you were born under,
know each of the star's stories.
Remember the moon, know who she is.
Remember the sun's birth at dawn, that is the
strongest point of time. Remember sundown
and the giving away to night.
Remember your birth, how your mother struggled
to give you form and breath. You are evidence of
her life, and her mother's, and hers.
Remember your father. He is your life, also.
Remember the earth whose skin you are:
red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth
brown earth, we are earth.
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their
tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them,
listen to them. They are alive poems.
Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the
origin of this universe.
Remember you are all people and all people
are you.
Remember you are this universe and this
universe is you.
Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you.
Remember language comes from this.
Remember the dance language is, that life is.
Remember.

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