Cardinal directions were always
a slippery concept to me.
North was elusive,
ever-shifting,
an adult secret I would never be privy to.
When I was 12, we
moved to a small town
on Lake Winnipeg.
Lake Winnipeg: from the Cree word winipīhk, “muddy waters.”
I learned that my new home was
on the west shore of the lake so
when you stood on the beach
and faced the lake
you would know
you were facing east.
So the mystery of east started to
unravel.
The lake became a compass.
In time the abstract concept of east
evolved.
It permeated my tissues,
became a knowledge embodied.
I walked Lake Winnipeg’s beach and
swam in its murky waters.
One morning I sat alone
(with red eyes and a raw heart)
and watched the sun
spill over
the water’s horizon.
East is no longer a mystery,
no longer an idea -
it is a sunrise
blazing in my memory.
Annie McBay
Annie McBay is an emerging voice in nature writing. Her work explores human and nonhuman relationships with changing landscapes and has appeared in Dark Mountain and SSAW Collective. She was shortlisted for the 2023 Nature-Writing Prize for Working-Class Writers. She is Canadian and lives in London, UK.
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