Qu’Appelle, circa 2009 – Lynn Acoose

CATEGORY : The Big Picture
Qu’Appelle, circa 2009 – Lynn Acoose

Qu’Appelle, circa 2009

Who calls?
No romantic figure heroically paddles there now.
There’s always an end to this journey,
Always an end of the trail.

poetry then loved the Indian dead
the pastoral gently painted us out

for the sake, in the name of beauty
we die or we disappear

extinguishment by the canon
can take seven generations

seven generations to get to this place…
wintering ground
harvesting common
fishing station
hay flats and picket stands
cottage lots and land claims

time enough to silence the spirits that lived
within our sacred stories
long enough that we can say their names for pay

WE ARE the ones who once belonged to this land,
    Had heard the voices of the spirits and listened to their laws.
Lived upon our mother so that future generations could survive
    And kept the stories that told us how to stay alive.

Lynn Acoose, 2009