In this episode of THE IDEALISTS., host and entrepreneur Melissa Kiguwa interviews Joy Harjo, who served three terms as the 23rd Poet Laureate from 2019 to 2022. She is the author of nine books of poetry, several plays and children's books, and two memoirs. Her many honors include the Ruth Lily Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the Poetry Foundation, the Academy of American Poets Wallace Stevens Award, two NEA fellowships, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. In this episode, Joy shares how she moves between the physical and mystical in order to make sense of the world around her.

“Consciousness cannot be bought, sold, stolen, or enslaved. It’s free and it’s deep and it’s wide and it connects everyone. And there’s a major shift if you come up knowing that the Earth is alive, that plants are alive and have consciousness, and that all living things— even so-called inert metals or stones—are living beings. That shifts your whole relationship to the world of matter. The world of matter is also a part of the sacred world, the world of the living.”