you are enough: love poems for the end of the world
CBC Books | | Posted: July 4, 2019 3:52 PM | Last Updated: July 8, 2019
Smokii Sumac
In his debut poetry collection you are enough: love poems for the end of the world, Smokii Sumac has curated a selection of works from two years of a near daily poetry practice. What began as a sort of daily online poetry journal using the hashtag #haikuaday, has since transformed into a brilliant collection of storytelling drawing upon Indigenous literary practice, and inspired by works like Billy Ray Belcourt's This Wound is a World, and Tenille Campbell's #IndianLovePoems. With sections dealing with recovery from addiction and depression, coming home through ceremony, and of course, as the title suggests, on falling in and out of love, Sumac brings the reader through two years of life as a Ktunaxa Two-Spirit person. This collection will move you as Sumac addresses the grief of being an Indigenous person in Canada, shares timely (and sometimes hilarious) musings on consent, sex and gender, introduces readers to people and places he has loved and learned from, and through it all, helps us all come to know that we are enough, just as we are. (From Kegedonce Press)
From the book
i.
nogo has become
a place where
when i walk home
many friends appear
a place where
when i walk home
many friends appear
reminiscent of
my hometown
in its close fam-
iliarity
my hometown
in its close fam-
iliarity
you
new as i was once
join me in walking
and stopping
to say many hellos
new as i was once
join me in walking
and stopping
to say many hellos
"famous" you noted
as we met her there
she laughed
then (knowing)
smiled
as we met her there
she laughed
then (knowing)
smiled
peterborough famous
GE shutting down
in the
electric city
GE shutting down
in the
electric city
From you are enough: love poems for the end of the world by Smokii Sumac ©2018. Published by Kegedonce Press.