The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to 
      live.
 
The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table. So it has 
      been since creation, and it will go on.
 
We chase chickens or dogs away from it. Babies teethe at the corners. 
      They scrape their knees under it.
 
It is here that children are given instructions on what it means to be 
      human. We make men at it, we make women.
 
At this table we gossip, recall enemies and the ghosts of lovers.
 
Our dreams drink coffee with us as they put their arms around our 
      children. They laugh with us at our poor falling-down selves and as 
      we put ourselves back together once again at the table.
 
This table has been a house in the rain, an umbrella in the sun.
 
Wars have begun and ended at this table. It is a place to hide in the
      shadow of terror. A place to celebrate the terrible victory.
 
We have given birth on this table, and have prepared our parents for 
      burial here.
 
At this table we sing with joy, with sorrow. We pray of suffering and
      remorse. We give thanks.
 
Perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table, while we are laughing 
      and crying, eating of the last sweet bite.

The Library of Congress announced that poet and musician Joy Harjo will succeed Tracy K. Smith as the 23rd U.S. poet laureate. A member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Harjo is the first Native American to hold the position. She is the author of multiple poetry collections, including She Had Some Horses (Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1983), In Mad Love and War (Wesleyan University Press, 1990), The Woman Who Fell From the Sky (W. W. Norton, 1994), A Map to the Next World (W. W. Norton, 2000), and Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings (W. W. Norton, 2015), as well as the memoir Crazy Brave (W. W. Norton & Company, 2012). W.W. Norton will publish her next collection An American Sunrise later this summer.