ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the poetry of Joy Harjo in an attempt to uncover the indigenous theory embedded within. It argues that while conducting, an indigenist criticism in examination of the work of this well received Creek poet, and make the corresponding suggestion that mainstream readings have, for the most part, underestimated the indigenist significance of Harjo's poetry. American Indians believe it is the breath that represents the most tangible expression of the spirit in all living things. Language is an expression of the spirit because it contains the power to move people and to express human thought and feeling. Language use is political because of its constitutive nature. As much as language is imbued with constitutive potential, it is also imbued with transformative potential. That is, just as language constructs reality, so too might it transform reality.
