Perhaps the world ends here by Joy Harjo

The poem "Perhaps the World Ends Here" by Joy Harjo writes nature and the environment through symbolism. The poem starts out that the world begins at a kitchen table is symbolic to the start of life. And it ends with perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table symbolizes death. The table to me can be nature. She writes that the table is a house in the rain, an umbrella in the sun. I can picture the table as tall shade trees that can be used as shelter when its starts raining and an umbrella to block the bright sun. Its a place to hide in the shadow of terror reminds me of the muskrats in Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek when they would stay hidden whenever she tried to watch them.

I also think that the poem writes to the environment. The environment is the social and cultural forces that shape the life of a person. The poem is broken up into different stages in life. The world begins at a kitchen table-birth, babies teethe at the corners, children are given instructions at the kitchen table, men and women are made at it, and they prepare the parents for burial there. It follows the stages of life from the first day to the last, from the lessons of manners to coming together to talk about gossip or the past.