When the World as We Knew It Ended

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2002

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Themes

The Hunger for War

Geopolitical context puts to bed the notion that the 9/11 hijackers’ key motivation was “hating our freedoms.” This was a line from the Bush administration, and inspired a wave of outrage once the initial shock of the attacks wore off. With the encouragement of television news, rallying behind every statement from those in power, grief transformed into a clamor for violent retaliation: “The racket in every corner of the world” (Line 30).

Harjo’s poem is rooted in the perspective of Native American individuals, who are unlikely to be taken in by crowing patriotism and American flags. Those who “hunger for war” (Line 31) were not so well-informed. In 2002, a survey found that 83 percent of young Americans couldn’t find Afghanistan on a map. Despite overriding ignorance about the region, citizens were prepared to go to war against people they knew next to nothing about and for reasons they didn’t understand.

Harjo’s poem swings back and forth between nature and spirituality to militaristic language—“island of commerce” (Line 1), “Potatoes, enough for an army” (Line 14), “The conference of birds” (Line 23), “destroyers in the harbor” (Line 24), “the magnetic field” (Line 28), “gathered intelligence” (Line 35). Metal and plastic have infected nature; grasses, fish, stones, and the weather itself have been harnessed to support the acquisition of power, money, and technology.

Once the men of oil and emperors have self-destructed, nature, love, creativity, and humanity persevere. They are wounded, but born anew—as is the writing of a poem.

The Importance of Communal Caring as an Antidote to Destruction

Curiously, the speaker seems detached from the events of 9/11. They are watching everything through the “knowledgeable tree” (Line 18). They may be distant because they don’t fully participate in the government of the colonizers and are therefore outside observers. They are busy with common household tasks and can’t fight back against the terrorists or their own centuries-long oppressors. This speaks to a common theme in women-centered literature—the ways domestic duties detract from participating in the politics of community. Although the speaker does not specify the “we” as female, the tasks described are traditionally associated with female caregivers.

Another reading is that the speaker simply chooses not to fight. Instead of lashing out or destroying their supposed enemies, they show their strength by enduring and continuing to create.

Creativity manifests in playing ukulele or guitar, in creating a song and poem, in cooking the rice and potatoes, “enough for an army” (Line 14). Yet the kind of army is unspecified. This line may point to how no politically funded army can go to war without the labor of domestic workers who grow, harvest, and cook their food. It may also suggest that the families fed by the speaker are tantamount to an army’s strength.

The collective speaker continues to dwell in houses, seemingly separate from the terrorist attack in New York City. They are preoccupied with planting seeds, giving milk to babies, and scrubbing floors. Whether they are feeding an army or are themselves the army, their task is to nurture the world. This contrasts with the men who want to dominate the trees and stones and suck the oil out of the ground for their own gain. The poem is not about “good vs. evil” but private greed in contrast with communal caring. It is also about the difference between destruction and creativity.

Creative Wisdom of the Natural World

Over images of fire and destruction, the speaker describes their vision of a natural world. The tree the speaker sees through positions the natural world as preeminent. It is not only forefront in the speaker’s eyes; it’s also “knowledgeable” (Line 18) and eternal. Trees recycle themselves and contribute to a flow of energies. They are the “stars […] / sun and storms” (Lines 19-20) of the natural world.

The speaker places nature and birds above human beings. Birds can see above humans; they have a vantage point that allows them to note what all of the destroyers in the harbor have been doing. However, it is clear that not everyone has been listening to the birds and their wisdom. Harjo is suggesting that only those attuned to nature understood what is at stake.

Those who read nature and understand its laws might use their insight for creation, not destruction. Toward the poem’s end, “someone picked up a guitar or ukulele from the rubble” (Line 46). The language obfuscates who picks up the instrument. In an individualist society, a singer or writer would want to take ownership of their creation, but the poem’s “we” doesn’t announce themselves as separate. They sing about the bigger world that connects them to one another and to larger forces. The final lines meld the singers with nature.

The earth gives birth to all of nature. The birth is both humble and commonplace, and at the same time it is a powerful, cosmic activity. If the greed of oil companies has bred a “fire dragon” (Line 6) then the humble creation of art is aligned with mother earth.

The piece becomes self-referential, calling the earth’s creative spirit “a poem” (Line 52). This suggests that the speaker is now channeling the voice of the earth, that the collective voice now includes it.