kiyâm: poems

What do you think of me, Dad,

writing this in Cree?

Could there have been more room

for a Cree conversation,

for a Cree understanding,

for a daughter’s understanding

her father’s honour

in the space between, tawâyihk,

your childhood and your passing.

Is it enough that I’ve

cleared a space on my desk

to light this candle for you?

Would that I could

have made more room.

nipakosêyimon kahkî-tawinamâtân.

Through poems that move between the two languages, McIlwraithexplores the beauty of the intersection between nêhiyawêwin,the Plains Cree language, and English, âkayâsîmowin. Writtento honour her father’s facility in nêhiyawêwin and hermother’s beauty and generosity as an inheritor of Cree, Ojibwe,Scottish, and English, kiyâm articulates a powerful yearningfor family, history, peace, and love.