This article examines how Mvskoke poet Joy Harjo represents the memory of historical events through a Native, non-linear conception of time, symbolized by the spiral. It draws on the work of Indigenous Studies scholars such as Craig Womack (Mvskoke), Paula Gunn Allen (Laguna Pueblo), Jace Weaver, and Mark Rifkin, placing their insights in dialogue with Pierre Nora’s concept of historical memory as developed in Les Lieux de mémoire (1984).
Harjo’s poetry is grounded in an intimate, embodied, and immediate engagement with the past, revealing a deeply conflicted relationship with history. Marked by colonial violence—from massacres and forced removals to land dispossession—this history threatens not only the moral integrity of Indigenous peoples but also the very possibility of writing poetry. In contrast to historical narratives structured around loss, deficiency, and inevitable disappearance—embodied in the enduring myth of the "Vanishing Indian" in the United States—Harjo’s poetry bears witness to her people's historical trauma while seeking to set this memory in motion. Her poetic practice rejects both victimization and rumination, contributing instead to a narrative of survivance, following Gerald Vizenor’s conceptualization of the term.
By examining the temporal fluidity of Harjo’s representation of history, this article argues that the Mvskoke poet envisions historical memory as a dynamic force capable of reshaping not only the past but also the present and the future. Her poetics of historical memory thus assumes a profoundly political dimension by reaffirming a traditional and self-determined relationship to history and time. In doing so, Harjo contributes to the articulation of a Native historical narrative that seeks to heal the wounds of colonialism and restore historical continuity in the face of its fragmentation.