"I build this story like my lair. One willow, / a rib at a time" â "The Crooked Good" Since 1990, Sky Dancer Louise Bernice Halfe's work has stood out as essential testimony to Indigenous experiences within the ongoing history of colonialism and the resilience of Indigenous storytellers. SÃ'hkêyihta includes searing poems, written across the expanse of Halfe's career, aimed at helping readers move forward from the darkness into a place of healing. Halfe's own afterword is an evocative meditation on the Cree wordsÃ'hkêyihta: Have courage. Be brave. Be strong. She writes of coming into her practice as a poet and the stories, people, and experiences that gave her courage and allowed her to construct her "lair." She also reflects on her relationship withnêhiyawêwin, the Cree language, and the ways in which it informs her relationships and poetics. The introduction by David Gaertner situates Halfe's writing within the history of whiteness and colonialism that works to silence and repress Indigenous voices. Gaertner pays particular attention to the ways in which Halfe addresses, incorporates, and pushes back against silence, and suggests that her work is an act of bearing witness â whatKwagiulth scholar Sarah Hunt identifies as making Indigenous lives visible.
- ISBN10 1771123516
- ISBN13 9781771123518
- Publish Date 16 May 2018
- Publish Status Transferred
- Publish Country CA
- Imprint Wilfrid Laurier University Press
- Format eBook (EPUB)
- Pages 88
- Language English