The most insidious danger is forgetting. When we forget the stories, we lose

our connection to the universe. In “A Map to the Next World” by Joy Harjo, the speaker warns, “Keep track of the errors of our forgetfulness; the fog steals our children while we sleep.” We must not forget how to navigate through life, and stories serve as our map.

Stories do not have to be written down, or even verbal; life is a story. As stated

in Joy Harjo’s “Remember,” it is important to “remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their / tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them. They are alive poems.” Everything is an alive poem, participating in the “dance that language is, that life is.” In Linda Hogan’s “The Sandhills,” cranes tell “the translated story / of life they write across the sky.” Remember: our stories are not isolated, but are intertwined into a story made whole.