Because the mountains recede in waves… … in the Similkameen… … when they don’t, they stand out, even when they are within this language of bodies. Note the cultural markings on this […]
Human Cartography
Every Sentence is a Map of the World
The plum in blossom… … becomes music in the wind. The Síya? in blossom … … is the music of bushes cast across a scree slope. West of Olalla The break in […]
The Role of a Post Colonial Literature in Canada
It is possible to have a stream that is dry, that is nonetheless still a stream. The land teaches that. It teaches that “streaming” is not a function of water but that, […]
Beauty and the Feast
The mountains have bloomed for Easter. Beautiful Arrow-leafed Balsam Root! Beats me why the whole city doesn’t shut down and take to the hills. And yet, for all that gorgeous display, the […]
Meaning, Memory, Minding, Mind
Last week, I spoke about Wide Energy. At the end, I showed this image of it from the Similkameen: At the time, I noted: These are the energies that shape us and […]
Two-Headed Guardian On the Old Trail to the Salmon River
The peoples of the Coast have ancestral stories of double-headed serpents, beings of great transformative power. A Kwakwaka’wakw Sisiutl dance mask made of cedar by Oscar Matilpi. Source It would not […]
Transformation Story at Chilutsus
Stories tell themselves in accordance with the perspective of the reader. To watch a story tell itself and go through its transformations, walking is best. Before your eyes and within you, what […]
Thick Energy
A friend recently commented that plants spoke to her ancestors and told them what they could be used for. No dangerous trial and error required for sagebrush buttercup, the rattlesnake plant. I’m […]
What Canadian Poets and Nature Can Achieve Together With a Little Help From Their Friends
I think we could ask some questions about separation. For instance, this willow, which seeded itself seven years ago, is doing fine high on the grassland… … although all other willows […]
Climate, Wild Harvest and Human Life as Environments
More important as a food crop than the pretty yellow bell lily … …is desert parsley. She’s cream-coloured… … with short flower stalks, or tall ones… … or purple, when still half-closed… […]
Okanagan Okanogan 