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Photo credit: Azmaan Baluch on Unsplash (Early 2000s--Thoughts from when I use to visit the Saskatoon Correctional Center with my minister and members of my church) I like leaving this place.  Always feels like a weight has been lifted.  Going in is the opposite.  The inside.  Hand over my stuff that gets put in a bucket.  Checked by a metal detector.  Cleared, the first set of glass doors close behind.  Harder to breathe.  In the booth the second set of doors open and I step

Photo credit: Irham Setyaki, Unplash Start with a shaky doodle Start with a sketchy sketch Start with a wimpering whisper Start with a breathy breath Start with a brave key Start with a curious note Start with a dangerous move Start with a bold stroke Start with an empty paper Start with a full pen Start with a questionable beginning Start with an open end Start because you have to Start because you must Get on the lonely keyboard Blow off the gathering dust You cannot stop s

Photo credit: Aaron Burden on Unsplash Just need to write It's been awhile Sitting on a manuscript that Hasn't talked to me, Nor me to it... Need to break the silence, the inadequacies questioning my pen Just need to write Minutes to months Shake off any doubts That seep inside Feel the paper under my pen Like two lovers who are Avoiding the inevitable truth "Where have you been?" Afraid to be vulnerable, completely So I take a chance on me Like the ABBA refrain And come to t

Let’s take a walk You and me and our little watch her smile grow, delights Another dog sighting   Let’s see how she sees new eyes, wide eyes Imagining just beyond, around the corner She dances her feet what she likes, she loves   Let’s take a walk and dance our feet Tickle tummies make sounds our mouths have long forgotten and wide open our eyes   To see just beyond…   Oh, my love Let’s take a walk While our daughter talks No Cat’s in the Cradle Times together

Un poème en ce moment... L’humanité, nous lie On a un coeur qui bat On respire On désire On espère On cherche On se demande à quoi sert la peine, les larmes, la douleur, la souffrance? Comment combattre la haine? Il faut illuminé le noirceur, l’obscurité Avec les bras et les portes ouvertes pour ceux qui cherche refuge Paris, Nigéria, Iraq, Syrie,… Gaza, l’Ukraine…Sudan L’humanité nous lie

Dec. 2025 What of Christmas poems With rhyme, romance and pageantry Silver sleigh bells and carols Winter alighted by the Nativity   Decking halls with bows and boughs The sacred shopping sprees Searching for the perfect star To top the Christmas tree   What of the Christmas table Moaning under the weight Filling our bellies and sleep Scraping remains from our plate   What of the guest who is missing From our dining repartee If only we could see Him And invite him to the feas

I loved Great Big Sea when they first hit the airwaves in the early 90s. Living in land-locked Saskatchewan, sea shanties have always held appeal. "The Pirates on the South Saskatchewan" by the Arrogant Worms is a great example of how the music and humour of those songs connect to our prairie hearts. So here it is, the song for Kale who features in Miss G and Me . He was the boarder who moved to my parents' house after he was diagnosed with scurvy because he was only eating

A red dress hangs in front of the window “Hi, Sorry I’m late!” She slips in the back door. She’s HOME! Tears of relief, sobbing laughter intake of air between cries bodies shaking in disbelief YELLS and CHEERS The walls shake with the words SHE’S HOME! Not missing or murdered… Not Silence Not Unknown But like bad endings… It is only just a dream and I am late posting. Today is not MMIWG day. It’s over. But it is not. Every day is Red Dress Day for families, friends, communiti

I did one of these awhile ago. I might get hooked on this style of poetry. Hello My Name Is Firekeeper's Daughter Sister of My Heart Obviously She Should Talk Voice of the Valley educated Braiding Sweetgrass love & courage Open Heart Simply Open as the stars

Noise Hemmed in by a semi and a pick-up truck Flags waving, horns blaring Hanging out their windows I felt momentarily squeezed in by both sides Where are my exits? How many more lights? I tell myself My son, who is sitting in the back, is safe; I am safe, Keep looking ahead, don’t look to your side windows, You are on Eighth Street, in Saskatoon, you are ok. I cannot imagine The weeks of blaring, the constant noise Intrusive, loud, demanding MY RIGHTS, MY FREEDOMS! Is this w

Last year in 2021, 215 little ones were found not far beneath the ground by the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation. Ground penetrating radar revealed remains of these children who never made it home from residential school. It was the beginning of an uncovering and deep soul-searching. It wasn't really the beginning. Before this there was knowledge...it is not new. But the undeniable culpability, that became glaring and evident. This injustice that continues to affect our

In the Bible there is a book called Lamentions. The author was crying out for God's justice, acknowledging and weeping for what was wrong in the world. Here is my lament from last year. I probably have some new lamentations this year... A lament: Oh Canada! There are fires burning, A heat dome covers and stretches over parts of you Lives lost in the blistering heat Praying for relief, rains, water Oh Canada! Other fires have been lit in the pain where we sit A dome of shame c