When the World as We Knew It Ended

The poem opens with the communal “We” (Line 1), indicating that the poem will explore a communal experience, something that affected multiple people simultaneously. The poem situates the reader in a specific time and place, designating the moment of the poem as a specific event: “We were dreaming on an occupied island at the farthest edge / of a trembling nation when it went down” (Lines 1 -2). The poem does not name the event. The phrase “it went down” (Line 2) plays on the colloquial phrase—“going down”—while referring to the literal, physical fall of the Twin Towers.

Harjo suggests that something else also “went down.” It was the beginning of two American-instigated wars in the Middle East, but also the beginning of an era in American history and politics. Many Americans had previously felt secure and insulated from the violence of war and terror that often plagues other countries. Now they felt that they too were vulnerable to attacks. The proverbial protective wall and that sense of American security also “went down.”

The speaker emphasizes this in the second stanza. They paint images of American achievement, with distinctly masculine connotations. Brothers “suck dry” (Line 4) the oil; “men” (Line 4) walk on the moon. The Twin Towers were phallic as they “rose” (Line 3) to touch the sky. When the speaker repeats “it went down” (Line 5), they are suggesting that the system as a whole—one which includes towers, oil-barons, moon-walkers, and male dominance—has gone down. A “fire dragon” (Line 6) has “eaten [it] whole” (Line 7).

The dragon mirrors the image of planes in the sky, collapsing the towers in a conflagration of fire. It also suggests something more cosmic. The poem follows “fire dragon” (Line 6) with “oil and fear” (Line 6). These signify the emotional and economic forces that led to the terrorist attack. Notably the speaker uses “oil” (Lines 4,6) twice in this stanza. Men suck oil out of the earth, then oil returns to swallow their governing system. The speaker blames those who have pursued oil: What they have coveted has returned to destroy them.

The speaker notes on a separate line: “It was coming” (Line 8). This draws attention to the line’s importance and underlines its message’s inevitability. In the following stanza the speaker suggests that the collective had “been watching” (Line 9) “to see what would happen” (Line 10). Then they “saw it” (Line 11), vindicating their attention.

Harjo is likely implying that the collective speaker includes Native American individuals who saw colonizers—“missionaries in their / long and solemn clothes” (Lines 9-10)—arriving on their shores to convert and exploit them. The speaker is somewhat detached, watching with curiosity, but not trying to interfere. They are characterized by their focus on things that are already happening without trying to dominate or manipulate. This contrasts sharply with the oil-sucking brothers, with men who walk on the moon.

The characters in the early stanzas are preoccupied with dominating or even destroying each other for political and economic power. In contrast, the speaker is concerned with everyday domestic tasks. The “we” watch world events “from the kitchen window” (Line 12); they cook, change diapers, and feed babies. They watch everything unfold “through the branches / of the knowledgeable tree” (Lines 17-18); this suggests that nature’s wisdom guides their thinking. The poem suggests that the “we” have a second sight or insight that others lack, both because they watch humans through nature and because they are removed from the action. They are more objective than those who are part of the system.

The speaker suggests that they can listen to birds and understand them: “The conference of the birds warned us” (Line 23). The speaker implies that the birds know more than human politicians; they have told the speaker to look out the window to see the fall of the Towers and other destructive events, including the growing “hunger for war” (Line 31).

In the tenth stanza, Harjo continues to establish how the “we” reveres the natural over the man-made world. The speaker repeats that they or maybe even the world itself are “dreaming” (Line 43), emphasizing the poem’s metaphysical qualities.

Things take a sharp turn in the eleventh stanza, signaled by “But” (Line 44). In spite of the calamity of 9/11 and of destruction, the natural world remains: That is why we can plant seeds, tend babies, cook. The stanza turns the reader’s attention back to nature, focusing on the growth of something new.

The poem personifies the world as a woman about to give birth—“the kick beneath the skin of the earth (Line 48). The speaker extends the metaphor, saying that something is being born “between the legs of her” (Line 51). This new thing is somewhat ambiguous. It is not a literal object or building, but something less tangible. It is possibly a new series of ideas, a new feeling, a new way of thinking. The speaker uses the words “song” (Line 51), “poem” (Line 52), and “warm animal” (Line 50), but likely means more than just these items on their own.

The song, poem, and warm animal contrast with the Towers, moon-walkers, and oil-suckers. The first three are more aligned with nature and creativity, with the mystic and communal.