The heartbreak of the tenderness of being

"The stuff I need for singing by whatever means is garnered from every thought, every heart that ever pounded the earth, the intelligence that directs the stars. The shapes of mountains, cities, a whistle leaf of grass, or a human bent with loss will revise the pattern of the story, the song. I take it from there, write or play through the heartbreak of the tenderness of being until I am the sky, the earth, the song and the singer."

(from "Finding the Groove" by Joy Harjo, reprinted in Word. On Being a Woman Writer, 2004.).