(Re)Generation: The Poetry of Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm

by Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, Dallas Hunt (Editor)

Overview

(Re)Generation contains selected poetry by Anishinaabe writer Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm that deals with a range of issues: from violence against Indigenous women and lands to Indigenous erotica and the joyous intimate encounters between bodies.

Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm's influence on the field of Indigenous literature cannot be overstated. Her creative work is formative, and she is responsible for the release of other influential works in the field of Indigenous literary studies through her publishing house, Kegedonce Press. Akiwenzie-Damm is proof positive that if Indigenous peoples are going to resist the violent processes of ongoing colonialism, then they're going to have to do it together.

Akiwenzie-Damms's afterword speaks to the relations and obligations Indigenous peoples have to one another and their other-than-human kin, as she reflects on the resilient work that Indigenous creative work has done and continues to do in spite of colonial violence. Her afterword stakes a claim for the necessity of poetry in the face of ongoing colonialism, not only in the present but in the future and for the generations to come. The introduction by Dallas Hunt locates Akiwenzie-Damm within the field of Indigenous literature and meditates on her influence on the field of Indigenous erotica. Akiwenzie-Damm writes in service of Indigenous love, intimacy, and joy, and speaks with an unwavering voice, one that, to paraphrase Akiwenzie-Damm herself, “shakes the earth.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771124713
Publisher:	Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Publication date:	08/24/2021
Series:	Laurier Poetry
Pages:	88
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm is an Anishinaabe writer, poet, spoken-word performer, librettist, and activist of mixed ancestry from the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, Saugeen Ojibway Nation. She is the founder and Managing Editor of Kegedonce Press which was established in 1993 to publish the work of Indigenous creators. Kateri has written two books of poetry my heart is a stray bullet and bloodriver woman, the Sarton Literary Award nominated collection of short fiction The Stone Collection, and the graphic novel Nimkii which was commissioned for the graphic novel anthology This Place: 150 Years Retold. Kateri was editor of two anthologies: Without Reservation, Indigenous Erotica and the award-winning Skins: Contemporary Indigenous Writing, and has released two poetry and music CDs, Standing Ground and A Constellation of Bones which was a nominee for an Aboriginal Music Award.

Dallas Hunt is Cree and a member of Wapsewsipi (Swan River First Nation) in Treaty 8 territory in Northern Alberta. His first children's book, Awâsis and the World-Famous Bannock, was published through Highwater Press in 2018. He is currently an Assistant Professor in Indigenous Literature at the University of British Columbia.

Table of Contents

Foreword Tunis MacDonald vii

Biographical Note ix

Introduction: Dallas Hunt xi

From Without Reservation

Fish head soup 1

A sweet taste of plum 2

Love letter, not sent 3

From standing ground

This earth a burial ground 4

Native sexuality 101 6

A song the bones sing 7

My wild horses 8

Dry season 10

The feast 11

Slash n burn 12

From Canadian Literature

Driving to santa fe 14

From Trout 8

Fishing lines 16

Waabigonii Giizis 19

From Bloodriver Woman

When i thought blood was the voice in my head 20

Vision 21

Frozen breath and knife blades 23

Penance for the dead 24

Last rites 25

From my heart is a stray bullet

Sturgeon 26

To you who would wage war against me 27

Stray bullets (oka re/vision) 29

I lose track of the land 30

Names 31

My grandmothers 32

The book you left: in memory 34

River song 36

Desire 37

I will be 38

Lovers' psalm 39

The resurrection of desire 40

Alternatives: one two three 41

Poem without end #3 43

Kegedonce 45

From Turtle Island to Aotearoa 46

From A Constellation of Bones

Coming Together 50

Unison 51

Across the Universe 53

Previously Unpublished

Boil water advisory 56

Telling story 57

Zombies 58

Afterword: Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm 61

Glossary of Maori Terms 67

Acknowledgements 69