Rainbow Oceans

You painted the world for me

In solid coloured provinces

Of unseen foreign lands,

And rainbow oceans.

I wanted to paint the world for you

In country outlines,

Capital cities,

Geographic regions.

I pointed to us

And your eyes grew blank.

My heart ached for tears unshed,

Longing for your world of rainbow oceans.

Herstory

You show me this book

And tell me it's history,

But if his story is so full of little white lies,

Things fallen through the cracks,

Details conveniently forgot,

I want to see less history.

Tell me herstory.

It will be round and full

Like a woman of nine moons,

And through her story

Words will be woven in loving kindness,

Strung together

In community,

Held in our hearts for generations,

Gathered on the hearth for recollection.

Soft or saucy words,

Wild, twinkling eyes

And merry laughs,

Vibrant and beautiful,

This is her story.

Never dry like history;

Never frail.

No pages missing,

No words left unwritten.

But if you must

Place them side by side;

Undo the bindings.

Take herstory and history,

Re-stitch them as one volume.

Call it theirstory,

Leave empty pages

For ourstory.

A volume never done...

Colonial Frames

Through these dark eyes

We watched the turns of time

Men pale as ghosts

Searching the wilderness

Hoping to find themselves

Courageous

Fool-hardy

They came at first

In boats strung up with clouds

Stepped on these shores

Barely land-born before

Ice and snow brought death

We nursed them in longhouses

But they breathed death on us

And soon we too fell

Villages became bone-yards

And as their numbers grew

They climbed mountains

Navigated waterways

Crossed plains

In search of furs

Greed lead them

Like wild dogs

And when the animals hid

They sought to take the earth

Our villages were reordered

To make Rupert's Land

And as greed grew

Rupert's Land shrank

Replaced by settlements

And paths of double steel

They drew invisible lines

Gave names

To what they never owned

Cities grew out of stone and steel and soot

Rupert's Land disappeared

Our eyes grew fewer

Viewed the world

Through lenses of suffering

Northwest Territories

And then Nunavut

To mark a new age

Proclaiming it time

Traditions fade away

You try to tell me

Our eyes are all the same

Glance for once

On the stains of history

Speak those words again

Yeomen

We came, long years ago

Built homes like gnomes

Sod hills

Rustic abodes

For vessels

Sought trees for timber

Soon licked by brine

Sea caked with salt

We made no friends

With men of bronze

Watching ghost towns

Emerge

With frightened eyes

Long before

Gallic Tongues

Spoke L'Anse aux Meadows

And by our hands

Broke earth

Sowed seeds for generations

But in vain

Neither Christ nor Thor

Would give us rain

Thunderstruck

Our broken company

Fled to the whale road

Dropped scythes for oars

Swept water

Rode tides home

Failed Exploration

Dredged up for the depths

1000 leagues

And muffled descent

Shadowy and still

Steel chains groan

The pressure is too great

Bend and snap

Dragged free-fall

To the bottom of the sea

Rock gently in this cradle

Where no light shines

Slip into an eternal darkness

Rest softly

In your coffin of metal and glass

Franklin

Feeling winter's bite

Icy grips

Chilling to the bone

Looking northwards

Eyes set on barren tundra

Water, rock, and ice

Do these mukluks dare

Follow footsteps faded

Clothed in blizzard's fate

History in shallow graves

Frost-burnt withered skin

Iced up to the bone

Arctic mummies

Chilling gleaming teeth

Glassy eyes

Seeing the beyond

Stomach full of lead

Death wraps

Tighter than scarves

Choking frosty breath

This Blanket

You argue in circles
Try to paint a picture that interweaves past and present.

You want to change the pattern here and now
Add a new colour
And vitalize the future.

But I am not sure if this pattern is as strong
This new thread
Must be thick
It will hold the whole piece together.

I want this blanket to last 7 Generations.

It will match the old blanket,
Now faded.
It sits in an old chest
And gathers dust.

There are moth holes
And edges frayed from wear.

This new blanket will be draped around the shoulders
Of a young country
To show coming of age.
To recognize maturity
And ability to contribute.

It symbolizes peace and understanding
It recognizes an agreement
That this youth
Will act in a way
Beneficial to all.

These threads must be strong.
I want this blanket to last 7 generations.
Are you sure it is time,
For that old blanket to be replaced,
For us to welcome in the new?

This is so much responsibility
It seems so soon...
And yet the old blanket
Is falling apart
The threads were not strong enough
To withstand the tests of time.

We must weave this new blanket stronger
Interweave colours tightly
Look towards the future.

Adrift

I feel like a castaway
Set adrift in a rowboat
Sun-parched
And stranded,

But you are the ocean
Your tides
Set my course,
Gentle waves
Rock me to sleep.

I lay in my boat
Half-dazed
Stare up at the harsh sun,

You whisper
Of far off lands
You sing to me
So I can never forget tomorrow.

Can you and I weather all the storms?

If I fall into that great blue
Surrender myself to your embrace,
What happens then?

If I am welcomed into
The heart of the ocean
Can our story
Go beyond time and tide?

Miles and Mountains

The miles between us
Are like mountains
And I can't see past them

But I will climb to the peaks
And run through the vallets
To get to you,

And if my steps falter
If I stop to catch my breath,
Will you meet me halfway?

Together we can make moutains
Look like molehills
And miles
Like grains of sand on the beach.

And soon we stand
Looking into
Each others eyes
And I forget
We ever
Were apart.

Chess

Time strides on.
I wonder
Am I making a mistake?
Every footfall
Carefully planned,
A game of chess.
Did I miss anything?
Will I find,
After a pause,
That this queen falls,
That even a castle
Won't prevent
Check Mate?
And if
Things don't work out
According to plan
Will I be a sore loser,
Or set up the board
And play again?

The Unspoken

Women are amazing,
Because there has never been a creature,
So strong and fragile
In the same breath,

You look at me as if incredulous
That I won't put out,
Because you want to live some wild fantasy
That you saw on one of those porn videos
I see listed in the search bar on your computer.
You watch them when I'm not there
And think I won't notice.

Then you slink off to the shower,
Try to let the water drown you out,
And wash away your frustration.
But you don't know frustration
Or confusion,
Truly.

A woman
Is taught from childhood
That they should be ashamed of their own bodies,
Live in fear,
Never talk about
Sex
Or Pleasure,
And certainly not together.

You can wave your hand in dismissal
And say that
All of this is a thing of the past,
But it is a legacy
Passed from mother to daughter,
Through the generations,
In well-intended words,
Trying to pass on wisdom
But there's an echo
Of subjugation,
From a time
When women knew oppression,
When the chains were forged.

And now those chains live on
As ghosts of the scars of history,
Memories,
Unwilling to fade

A woman can feel pleasure,
But expressing pleasure
Discussing sex in public,
Makes us
Skanks, whores, sluts.

Showing off our natural beauty
Makes us provocative,
Turns heads,
Makes our footsteps
Echo with whistles and catcalls.

To wear clothing as a form of freedom
And self-expression,
Means we are ASKING for men to rape us!
And it is drilled into us
That someone might get us pregnant.

So sometimes we hide behind invisible chains,
Lock the doors and windows after dark.
And sometimes we are submissive,
Sacrificing our pleasure for yours
Because we are afraid to be ourselves.
We still have this legacy
Of being property
And objects of desire.

We can looking in the mirror
And see no beauty,
Because we are not thin enough
Young enough, ________ enough.

When we hurt in love
We may turn it inwards and blame ourselves.
Afterall,
We were taught to hate ourselves.

So don't look at me
As if my body defines my worth.
Don't expect me to pleasure you
Just because you want me to.

Don't expect me to pleasure you
If you don't show me
Why I should trust you.
Why should I
Forget all this social conditioning,
Release my inhibitions?
And let this night take us somewhere
Beyond time and space.

Because if I wake up,
And you snuck out while I was sleeping
Looking for another one night stand,
Then soon enough it will be another man
Sitting right there
With the same look in his eyes,
And I will have one more shackle
Holding me back,
Keeping us apart.