Thoughts on "I Give You Back"

Upon watching Joy Harjo's reading of the poem "I Give You Back", I was a little taken back by the way that the poem was read. I have heard this poem read many times but this reading was different from most. It really gave me a different perspective of the poem and I was also able to see the diverse interpretations that people have of poetry. I would've never read that poem the way that Joy Harjo did in the video. I appreciated the new perspective and I feel like I was even able to see Joy's style just from this one poetry reading. She seemed informal and although she was obviously in touch with her own feelings while reading the poem, it didn't seem to mean all that much to her. Her lack of emotion really threw me off, but that just may be me because I really like this poem and I feel very connected to the poem. The way that she said some of the lines really threw me off because I would've never thought to sing it or break up the lines in the way that she did. But I can definitely see the rhythm behind the lines that would possess her to sing the lines instead of simply speaking them. Somehow Joy took away a lot of the pain and emotion that I previously had while reading this poem. Her style made it hard for me to feel the meaning behind the lines, it just didn't seem like she felt the way that the poet felt while writing this poem. She did seem empowered and that is obvious but I just wasn't able to connect with the poem like I have before.