The Stone Collection
CBC Books | CBC | Posted: May 23, 2017 8:48 PM | Last Updated: July 10, 2017
Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm
In these 14 unique stories, Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm takes on complex and dangerous emotions, exploring the gamut of modern Anishinaabe experience. Through unforgettable characters, these stories — about love and lust, suicide and survival, illness and wholeness — illuminate the strange workings of the human heart. (From Portage & Main Press)
From the book
Gerry is the only man I've ever loved.
We met at a dinner at his parents' home one early spring evening. His mother had become a fast friend after coming to my aid at a poetry reading. Two Greedy Minds had been circling, quizzing me about life on the reserve, Native spirituality, the appropriation of Native stories, land claims, the rights of sports fishermen versus Native fishing rights... I tried, politely at first, to extricate myself. Then I exuded an intense disinterest that bordered on deafness.
I openly daydreamed. Imagined myself becoming birdwoman, darting and circling to freedom.
To no avail. One persistent, brighteyed university student continued asking about sweat lodges and potlatches while regaling me with stories about her various brushes with spirituality. All with the kind of open-faced wonder that could drive a pacifist to throw punches. She stared, hanging on my every word and gesture. My hand was a clenched fist.
From The Stone Collection by Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm ©2015. Published by Portage & Main.