maskihky words/medicine words
Excerpted
(for nimosôm)
kayâsago, a long, long time ago
kistêsinâw Our Elder Brother
kî-pimohtêw walked and walked kî-pimohtêw
kî-pimohtêw the world into being
leaving pathways for us to follow
but me
me, I got lost early on
I wanted white skin because
of the Boys in Town
the Town Boys
the ones I looked up at
from the puddle of mud
where I belonged, they said
coloured mud
don’t you get up,
they said stay
down
down
d-owwwww
nimosôm’s, my Grandfather’s, voice whispering
helping me out of the puddle
maskihky words, medicine words
get up my girl
my girl get up
get up
Published online April 02 2014.
Tasha Beeds is of Métis (nêhiyaw-Scottish) and mixed Barbadian ancestry. She grew up with her mother’s Métis and nêhiyaw family in the Treaty 6 territories of mistawâsis and atâhkakohp. She has been published in Me Funny, Mixed Race Women Speak Out and Matrix Magazine. Tasha also has articles in two forthcoming anthologies: Indigenous Poetics and Mixed Blessings. She is currently a PhD candidate in the Indigenous Studies Program at Trent University.
This piece was published in ‘Forces to Bear: The Reculturalization of Canadian Poetry,’ the Winter 2014 issue of CV2.
Get more great poetry, interviews, and reviews delivered straight to your door four times a year. Subscribe now.
