Through bilingual poetry, Naomi Mcilwraith explores the beauty of the intersection between nêhiyawêwin, the Plains Cree language, and English, âkayâs"mowin. A treatise to honour her father's facility in nêhiyawêwin and her mother's beauty and generosity as an inheritor of Cree, Ojibwe, Scottish, and English, kiyâm articulates a powerful yearning for family, history, peace, and love.

kîkwaya kâ-masinahikâtêki ôta contents

Foreword Jenna Butler ix

The Sounds of Plains Cree: A Guide to Pronunciation xi

Family Poems

The Road to Writer's Block (A Poem to Myself) 5

Trademark Translation 12

paskwâhk | On the Prairie 13

kiya kâ-pakaski-nîmihitoyan  | You Who Dance SoBrightly 15

tawâw | There Is Room, Always Room for One More 17

Perfect Not Perfect 20

tawastêw | The Passage Is Safe 21

pahkwêsikan | Bread 23

ê-wîtisânîhitoyâhk asici pîkiskwêwin | Language Family28

ê-wîtisânîhitoyâhk êkwa ê-pêyâhtakowêyâhk | Relative Clause33

Critical Race Theory at Canadian Tire 39

Reclamation Poems

Cree Lessons 43

tânisi ka-isi-nihtâ-âhpinihkêyan | How to Tan a Hide 45

aniki nîso nâpêwak kâ-pîkiskwêcik | Two Men Talking 49

nohtâwiy opîkiskwêwin | Father Tongue 52

ninitâhtâmon kititwêwiniwâwa | I Borrow Your Words 58

aniki nîso nâpêwak kâ-masinahikêcik | Two Men Writing61

sâpohtawân | Ghost Dance 62

ê-kî-pîcicîyâhk | We Danced Round Dance 66

A Few Ideas fromamiskwacî-wâskahikanihk

The Young Linguist 73

tânisi ka-isi-nihtâ-pimîhkêyan | How to Make Pemmican74

History Poems

maskihkiy maskwa iskwêw ôma wiya ohci | For Medicine BearWoman 87

mistahi-maskwa 91

Take This Rope and This Poem (A Letter for Big Bear) 94

sôhkikâpawi, nitôtêm | Stand Strong, My Friend 98

kâh-kîhtwâm | Again and Again 102

nikî-pê-pimiskân | I Came This Way by Canoe 107

Spinning 110

Practicing for My Defence 112

Like a Bead on a String 115

ihkatawâw ay-itwêhiwêw | The Marsh Sends a Message 116

kakwêcihkêmowin ohci kânata otâcimowina 117

A Question for Canadian History 118

kiskinohamâkêwin ohci kânata otâcimowina 119

An Instruction for Canadian History 120

kiyâm | Let It Be 121

Notes on the Poems 123

Cree-English Correspondences 127

Bibliography 153

Publication Credits 157

Acknowledgements 159