Featured Poet: Michelle Sylliboy – Komqwejwi’kasikl 1

Green plants

Dream We Must

Do you dream of Cedar
protecting your pathway
to freedom

do you dream of the way
thunder and lightning
dance in mid air
cleansing Mother Earth’s
creation

do you dream of imprinting
messages behind mountains
that separate us from
our truths

do you dream of bears
calling my name to you
do you dream side by side
blissfully across the spirit realm

do you dream of researching
collecting what is necessary
to ensure stories are passed on
to the next generation

do you dream

 

Michelle Sylliboy (Mi’kmaq/L’nu)

Award winning author and Interdisciplinary artist Michelle Sylliboy (Mi’kmaq/L’nu) was born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised on her traditional L’nuk territory in We’koqmaq, Cape Breton. While living on the traditional, unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations, Sylliboy completed a BFA at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, and a Masters in Education from Simon Fraser University. She is currently a PhD candidate in Simon Fraser University’s Philosophy of Education program, where she is working to reclaim her original written komqwej’wikasikl language. Her collection of photography and L’nuk hieroglyphic poetry, Kiskajeyi—I Am Ready, was published by Rebel Mountain Press in 2019.