I run through heart of the land, muddy, brackish, moving birch canoes, from dawn to dusk.
i hang a red dress
its folds billowing spiritual dance
along grainy shores
forked by roots of ancient trees
i burn sagebrush
and i
count the years passing
of voices forever silenced
stolen sisters, missing daughters-
only heartbeat of river remains-
I crawl with broken bones, washing away blood, footprints, sun-scarred skin under dark moon.
Each year, dozens of Canadian Aboriginal women are murdered or disappear never to be seen again. Some end up in a river that runs through the heart of Winnipeg.
Posted for D'verse Poets Pub - Poetics: The River, hosted by guest host, Paul Dear. And Happy World Poetry Day! Thanks for the visit ~
This is really moving, Grace!
ReplyDeleteCan't even imagine, has to be hard never knowing. Whack jobs out there.
ReplyDeleteOh my Grace. This is heart-wrenching. I love how you connect the Red with ritual and with death. It is a sad tale and carried by the river. Beautifully written. Thank You.
ReplyDeleteVery moving and beautifully done Grace xxx
ReplyDeleteI had heard about this sadness.. it's been featured even in Swedish newspapers. Love the form with the long lines framing the shorter ones.
ReplyDeleteNice memorial to the women murdered found along this river.
ReplyDeleteYour words are so poignant and touching. I will be researching "Red River Women" to learn more. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWhat a moving write... beautiful and with purpose
ReplyDeleteAn amazing poem, Grace, and what a story lies behind it! I love the symbolism of the red dress and burning sagebrush.
ReplyDeleteThis is not America's Red River I presume? Your poem is incredible, like a Native song retold around campfires, flowing malevolent & metaphoric.
ReplyDeleteNo, this is Canadian. Thanks Glenn.
DeleteFirstly well done for putting the spotlight on such an horrific situation. I, as I'm sure many people are, was totally unaware of this and read the link you put up. Secondly what you have written is a stark and simple moving poem to the plight of these people. May it find a significantly wider audience.
ReplyDeleteThat is tragic, but how you contrasted the missing women and holes in hearts they make with the eternal flow of the river. Intensely beautiful, Grace.
ReplyDeleteThis is so beautiful and poignant both at the same time.. sigh..
ReplyDeleteOh, I am haunted by those "stolen sisters, missing daughters."
ReplyDelete(This is incredibly gorgeous work, Grace. As always.)
DeleteThe contrast between the man-made evil and the majesty of the river and its setting is beautiful.
ReplyDeletelovely tribute to forgotten women, stories left untold by their disappearance. I felt something stir with the words red dress like a warning bell before I got to the end, you write with amazing reverence to life. I am very touched by this new knowledge and understanding.
ReplyDeleteEven before your comment, I knew there was something wrong. There are so many red rivers.
ReplyDeleteSo very moving Grace. Beautiful and full of homage for lives lost
ReplyDeleteThe red dress, the spiritual dance, and the loss of the women in the river..........a beautiful tribute, and reminder, of those lost sisters.
ReplyDeleteWhat a powerful tribute to the memory of these women
ReplyDeleteStartlingly beautiful; deeply sad.
ReplyDeletetragic. the silence of the river somehow scares me.
ReplyDeleteThis is really powerful. I was moved before I read the inspiration, doubly moved afterwards.
ReplyDeleteThe red dress is such a potent image for this collective horror, and there's an almost mythic distance between speaker and subject, for our sakes perhaps, or for the truth's, or the river.
ReplyDeleteWoah. I didn't know about that. Thank you for sharing the info about the Red River Women. Intriguing piece, Grace!
ReplyDeleteexcellent and so moving...!
ReplyDeleteLove this graceful poem...the Mexican border, too, has stories of women lost. All rivers have their stories, sad and beautiful.
ReplyDeleteRivers of subsistence
ReplyDeleteRivers of death
Rivers
of
DArk
liGht
as Rivers FLow
SiNk of Life Swims
Rivers edge.. Deeper more..
LiGht
oF
DArk..:)
This was powerful before I read the explanation. And then....a river of bones and blood. This is a heartbreaking and haunting piece.
ReplyDeleteHow heartbreaking. Your writing honored them well. Thank you. Have a beautiful week.
ReplyDeleteThe red dress, flowing river, native blood shed...haunting write!
ReplyDeletestolen sisters, missing daughters-
ReplyDeleteonly heartbeat of river remains
Nameless and missing, sorely missed by family members but not by others. They are not ranked high in society obviously!
Hank
Beautiful, and poignant. I remember I read about it... It's so sad, and terrible.
ReplyDeletePowerful and poignant ... an important piece about an ongoing horrific Canadian tragedy and national disgrace. The writing in this: superlative.
ReplyDeleteVery poignantly written....a very troubling problem.
ReplyDelete