I call myself the Silence Between Two Rivers because I inherit two large streams of humanity. The stories of our interconnections are not well told, for the most part. And the pressure to choose one side or another of my identity is real. And tedious. And not nearly as interesting to me as the territory in between.
Author: prairiepomes
Writer, gardener, hopeful curmudgeon, free-range Aboriginal, lover of life, Poet Laureate of Edmonton 2011-13, traveller, Fifth World Drummer.
A Mustang for Bob: Self-Portrait as Compost
Originally posted on O at the Edges:
Self-Portrait as Compost Beneath the surface find warmth, the fruit of decay and mastication, of layered mixes and intermingled juices. Disintegrated or whole, still I strive to speak. Bits of me meld, to be absorbed slowly; I process and am processed: here, within the pepper bush’s deep…
Edmonton Artists’ Trust Fund
This year, I am honoured to be one of ten recipients of an award through the Edmonton Artists’ Trust Fund. Find out about this remarkable granting initiative, and the ways it’s been supporting creative community building in Edmonton since 1997. Thanks to the one and only Darrin Hagen (also a recipient this year!) for nominating…
Firewood
Originally posted on O at the Edges:
? Firewood For two years the oak loomed, leafless. We had aged together, but somehow I survived the drought and ice storms, the regret and wilt, the explosions within, and it did not. I do not know the rituals of trees, how they mourn a passing, or…
person Estrella del Valle, three poems translated by Toshiya Kamei
Originally posted on ISACOUSTIC*:
Born in Córdoba, Veracruz, Estrella del Valle now lives in El Paso, Texas. Her most recent poetry collection, Calima: CAution LIve aniMAls, was published in 2018. Translations of her poems have appeared in various journals, including Burnside Review, Coe Review, Controlled Burn, International Poetry Review, and Pembroke Magazine. Toshiya Kamei holds…
Ghazal to Bob, in the Night
It’s a new year, but I haven’t changed. I cannot resist responding to awesome poetry. I do hope Mr. Okaji will forgive me taking his name in this vein… Anchors aweigh, we settle lower in the water every year we are blessed to yet bob in the night. Pockets emptied, we cast vestments to slaughter…
Silt
What is it to be human? Profoundly, humans are diggers of wells. The best of who we are in any civilisation includes the will and skill to dig a well, to secure a supply of life-giving water for those we hold near and dear. Around the world, wells take many forms, expressing our ingenuity and…
Another Podcast Up, at CBC
Here’s another great podcast series; this one’s about Indigenous languages. Each guest is interviewed about our relationship to/use of our Indigenous language(s), and asked to share 3 words for the audience to learn. Have a listen! First Words There is so much more I’d like to say, and of course, so much more we discussed,…
Podcast Up!
Recently, I had the most delicious privilege of spending an evening as the guest of Let’s Get Lit* – Have a listen! * I was their Alcohol-Free special edition, ’cause I’m truly just that square! And ’cause being part of such a sweet, hilarious and warm-hearted community just lights me up!
Morning
Originally posted on Prairiepomes:
Joy comes in the morning. – Psalm 30:5 Morning was always Mom’s time. In the winter on the farm, morning would begin with the sound of her rattling the kitchen stove, stoking up the fire. We heated the house via a mixed-fuel furnace in the basement, whom, for reasons that live…
the ladies say
in yourself centre and honour the artist woman, mother, other then you’ll know how to ask others to do so then you’ll know what can be asked, and what must be commanded. With gratitude to the beauty of JR,HW,FD,HG.
Collage, Making the Cut, Cutting Up
Originally posted on SpectatorCurator:
Tristan Tzara, Dadaist poet, famously advocated a “cut-up” method of composition, involving cutting out words from a newspaper and drawing them randomly from a hat to create a poem. Collage in language-based work can now mean any composition that includes words, phrases, or sections of outside source material in juxtaposition. With…
