Marie Lawinonkie White has made the 2019 CBC Poetry Prize longlist for Mi'kmaq Moccasins.

The winner of the 2019 CBC Poetry Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, have their work published on CBC Books and attend a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books.

The shortlist will be announced on Nov. 14, 2019. The winner will be announced on Nov. 21, 2019.

Marie Lawinonkie White is a writer, journalist, Cégep English teacher, proud mother of four and grandmother of two. Passionate about the English language, linguistics and writing, she began writing professionally as a freelance journalist covering a wide variety of topics, especially Indigenous issues, in 2001. She has also been writing creatively on the side and is working on her first collection of short stories and poems.

Healing Medicine. Honouring Tradition. Hoping.

"Real life. Real people. Real pain. Real healing. Witnessing the healing medicine of pow wows. Connecting with Mother Earth, with each other and with the ancestors, the dancers and the drummers bring health to the spirit, build inner resilience and strength and transmit cultural guidance and traditions to the whole community."

Mother Earth
Drums me to life;
The rhythm of her heart
Beats in me

I am on the dance grounds at Listuguj pow wow;
My blue fancy shawl is swaying its silver bells in readiness-
While regalia, vendors and coffee scents circle around me-
I am rejoicing in my identity.