That Which Makes Us Joyful

Birds embody the shapes of my heart
these days

holding the warmth of a hug
in their feathers

the gleam of a kiss in
their eyes

building a home for my love
in their beaks

and spreading, with their song,
the promise of blue horses.


“A blue horse turns into a streak of lightning,
then the sun—
relating the difference between sadness
and the need to praise
that which makes us joyful.”

—Marjorie Moorhead

Seed: “A blue horse turns into a streak of lightning,
then the sun—
relating the difference between sadness
and the need to praise
that which makes us joyful.”

Source: “Promise of Blue Horses,” by Joy Harjo

Marjorie Moorhead found the language of poetry relatively late in her existence and is happy to practice it as a way of understanding and sharing her world.