by Rita Wong
Snap Lake is “Canada’s first completely underground diamond mine.” after the unsettlers are finished, what legacy will it leave?
the home of Coney and of Coney-eating Dene for thousands of years, will this short blip of urban disturbance pass as quickly as it began, or will it readjust itself to your icy rhythms?
medicines abound as the blind walk & dig: some can hear them, many can’t. what will we learn from crowberry, blueberry, elderberry, yarrow, caribou, whitefish, Yamozha?
what remains
sleep replenishes
a tired mind
birdsong renews
wild life in city’s midst
ever evolving
under abundant sun
generous rain
a simple breath
again & again
a repeated act
of faith
among
ant crawl
worm squirm
snails & slugs
spider spin
hemlock hold
pigeon coo
baby burble
raccoon scavenge
skunk scamper
antibodies adjust
paramecium propel
salal stretch
#J28
last year, i never imagined we would be
round dancing in Glenmore Landing
round dancing in Chinook Centre
round dancing in Olympic Plaza
round dancing in Metrotown
round dancing in West Edmonton Mall
round dancing outside the Cayuga courthouse
round dancing on Akwesasne
round dancing on Strombo
hych’ka!
mahsi cho!
welalin!
miigwetch!
drumming at Waterfront Station
drumming at the United Nations
drumming at Columbia University
drumming at Granville & Georgia
drumming at Dalhousie University
drumming at the Peace Arch
drumming on Wellington Street
drumming on Lubicon lands
drumming in Owen Sound
drumming in Thunder Bay
drumming in Somba K’e
drumming in Chicago
drumming in Chilliwack
drumming in Kitimat
taking a much needed pause for thought
on tarsands Highway 63
on the 401
on cn rail tracks
with Aamjiwnaang courage
a human river on Ambassador Bridge
time to stop and respect
remember we are all treaty people
unless we live on unceded lands
where ignorant guests can learn to be better ones
by repealing C-45, for starters
we have to stand together in many places all at once
J11, J16, J28
Indigenous spring
Eighth Fire summer
autumn wisdom
winter sleep to
renew Indigenous spring
again & again
it is Gandhi we need to align ourselves with
Gandhi and Gaia and Vandana and Maude & marbled murrelets & mycorrhizal mats
Winona and Ward and Jaggi and Arundhati & phytoplankton & peregrine falcons
Naomi and Oren and Toghestiy and Jeannette and Lee & bittermelon & bees
Percy and Shiv and Jack and Elizabeth & chrysanthemum greens & canola, now radiated
Yoko and Yes Men and Chrystos and Dionne & dolphins & prairie dogs
Theresa and Melina and Pamela and Rosa Parks & salmon & cedar
Wab and Harsha and Clayton and Eriel & eider ducks & water bears
Takaiya and Roxanna and Glen and David & wolves & whales
there is a time for pies and there is a time for rocks & beavers & snowy plovers
there is a time for poems & a time for rifles & coral reefs & caribou
there is also a time for the Haudenosaunee Wampum Belt
a time for you
two rivers running side by side
(as long as one party doesn’t try to dam, kill the other’s river)
and a time for spinning wheels
it is Super Barrio, who stopped 10,000 evictions in Mexico, who i look to
it is the Zapatistas, the Mohawks, the KI, the Lhe Lin Liyin
the Mother Earth Water Walkers, the 20-year-olds suddenly in Parliament, the grannies & the grandkids
it is the children i will never see, but who i hope will live and drink clean, wild water
with gratitude to Chief Theresa Spence and Idle No More for participatory leadership in the service of lands, waters & all living beings
holders
the women hold space like trees do, sweet fresh air between their tender branches. unseen roots draw deep down into dark moist sustenance, making homes for songbirds, windsong and children who puff with asthmatic exertion. the women stand in front of army trucks & policemen, uniforms & riot gear with only their soft skin & clear eyes to protect their beating hearts. the mothers, the sisters, the aunties, the grannies, the daughters crack open the ugly pavement of unjust laws & find old rivers underneath. quietly, firmly, they pray & burn offerings for the four directions to come together in sacred commitment to all of creation: the frogs, the slugs, the hummingbirds, the whales, the mountains, the creeks, the laughing ones & the crying ones, the tough ones & the weak ones, the silly ones & the serious ones, the clowns & the cooks, the farmers & the fishers. the women dig their toes into the generous earth remembering their mothers and their neighbours, their relatives who fly and those who swim. the women have forgotten so much but they are starting to remember. no matter how many of them have been killed, beaten, insulted, the women continue to stand together. the women plant trees & gardens. the women eat fresh peaches & can huckleberries. they compost & compile recipes. the women forage for mushrooms & cultivate stubborn corn. they praise the sun & the night with their toil. they tickle each other and guffaw. the women lick their lips with gusto. they perch on the edge of teetering cities. they jump into organic fields. the women build homes with their beloveds. the women find ways to laugh even when life isn’t funny. the women remain
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epilogue: letter sent back in time from 2115
here is wonder, despite armies of mistakes. darshan. the heavens still circle us, & we them. from ovum to star orbits, rebalance begins, practical & spiritual. in the great return, toilets don’t flush; they compost. people cease & desist from desecrating water by pissing & shitting in it. other ways to move waste, besides water, prevail. we live in the world as if it were our only home, loving dreamtime & full breath. spontaneous compassion sprouts in the cracks of collapsing systems. as the rampant destruction of drinkable water finally stops, mutual-aid lifeboats emerge. seui dihk sehk chyun. gradual & magical, the syntax of hope percolates into bathrooms & basements, glistens in alleyways turned arbours. city dwellers cultivate gentle water, in the shape of sturdy kale, crisp apples, airy chicken coops. ubuntu. glimpse elders in every school, children in every seniors’ home. organic gardens spread through public grounds, healing lodges & neighbourhoods. treaties mature, deepening respect like old-growth roots. springwater protection, fogcatchers, cedar, all thicken, as does birdsong with the return of habitat & empathy. three sisters sing louder in our guts & muscles. we learn the languages of roots & fungus medicines. dandelion, yarrow, burdock, lingzhi. everyone slows, attends to the waxing & waning moon each lunar cycle. balance quietly returns to the commons, as the solace of night matches the solar feed-in tariffs by day. the sun meets the power of the moon. serious play enters work in a big way. nobody is the boss of anybody but themselves. hemp mostly takes plastic’s place. through cob construction, occupations of empty condos & community sweat equity, everyone who wants a home, has one. indigenous resurgence slows climate instability & deflates apocalyptic fervor. today people live & watch water’s journey the way they used to watch the dow jones, as the flow of tao reaffirms ocean life. hych’ka.
