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Burning In This Midnight Dream
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In heart-wrenching detail, Louise Halfe recalls the damage done by the residential schools to her parents, her family, and herself in her new poetry collection.
Burning In This Midnight Dream is the latest collection of poems by Louise Bernice Halfe. Many were written in response to the grim tide of emotions, memories, dreams and nightmares that arose in her as the Truth an ...more
Burning In This Midnight Dream is the latest collection of poems by Louise Bernice Halfe. Many were written in response to the grim tide of emotions, memories, dreams and nightmares that arose in her as the Truth an ...more
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Us NDNs have grown up to our grandmothers crying and our grandfathers stony silence. Our sweet Nokomis, Mishoom, what did they do to you in those schools? For years the following generations received no answers.
They often only encountered substance abuse, trauma, broken family and cultural ties, their sense of self and community slowly slipping slipping slipping away in the white mans current.
Burning in this Midnight Dream by Cree storyteller Louise Bernice Halfe is a poetry collection that both ...more
They often only encountered substance abuse, trauma, broken family and cultural ties, their sense of self and community slowly slipping slipping slipping away in the white mans current.
Burning in this Midnight Dream by Cree storyteller Louise Bernice Halfe is a poetry collection that both ...more
Jun 16, 2019
Magdelanye
rated it
really liked it
Shelves:
creative-process,
family-trauma,
go-girls,
healing,
poetry,
social-commentary,
social-history
A hole is hard to climb out of when there is nothing
to cling to
from the poem sipehkeytha/endure p26
LBH knows that hole well and she recreates her life in these strong words.In fact, the poems here form a poetic autobiography, illustrated by photographs of her large family, stark and challenging.
I found myself released from residential school yet
the four walls slithered everywhere I went. p5
from the poem masaskon/ stripped p5
All blessings to you gentle warrior
to cling to
from the poem sipehkeytha/endure p26
LBH knows that hole well and she recreates her life in these strong words.In fact, the poems here form a poetic autobiography, illustrated by photographs of her large family, stark and challenging.
I found myself released from residential school yet
the four walls slithered everywhere I went. p5
from the poem masaskon/ stripped p5
All blessings to you gentle warrior
Some really beautiful poems in this collection. The highlights — the juxtaposition between natural landscapes and botanical descriptions and colonial structures and religion. As well, the writing is so nuanced in how it treats love / pain. Those we love hurt us most. Culture and trauma intertwined. Besides the content of the poetry, the verse itself was good but unremarkable. Which I don't mind, I'm much more content focused with poetry.
...more
These poems cover many aspects of the author's life and experiences but what haunts you through the collection is the inter-generational trauma; how can anyone can deny the trauma we have caused to native people? I understand the desire to ignore and deny but this is impacting so many lives, we need help and make reparations for what we have done as colonizers.
...more
This is a beautiful and courageous collection of poetry by First Nations indigenous Canadian poet Louise Bernice Halfe. It quite has me reeling.
Louise Bernice Halfe has shared some intensely intimate and difficult stories within her poetry and each and every poem is impactful, beautiful and intense. I feel lucky to have been able to read this collection.
This is my first time reading any poetry by Louise Bernice Halfe. This volume sparked my interest at the library, and I am incredibly glad I checked it out.
Burning In This Midnight Dream is filled with beautiful poems that recount the struggles of a person, a family, and a community in the aftermath of the Indian Residential School system, written as Halfe was going through the TRC process. The poems almost form a narrative, almost a poetic memoir. Many of them stand on their own, but most of th ...more
Burning In This Midnight Dream is filled with beautiful poems that recount the struggles of a person, a family, and a community in the aftermath of the Indian Residential School system, written as Halfe was going through the TRC process. The poems almost form a narrative, almost a poetic memoir. Many of them stand on their own, but most of th ...more
“I want to know how I can bring beauty
and drink the nectar of delight.”
In this collection, Skydancer details the flood of memory and pain following her hearing for the Truth and Reconciliation Council on the splintered abuse of the Residential School system and its lasting impact on indigenous peoples. It is full of heart and suffering, but she still seeks to bring the light with her - a powerful testament in the face of decades of systematic wrongdoings to the native people of Canada.
Despite t ...more
and drink the nectar of delight.”
In this collection, Skydancer details the flood of memory and pain following her hearing for the Truth and Reconciliation Council on the splintered abuse of the Residential School system and its lasting impact on indigenous peoples. It is full of heart and suffering, but she still seeks to bring the light with her - a powerful testament in the face of decades of systematic wrongdoings to the native people of Canada.
Despite t ...more
This was a beautiful book of poetry. I loved the narrative arc that Louise Halfe created and sustained throughout the work. The experience, aftermath, and on-going impact of residential school was skillfully and unflinchingly explored by her. And the hard work of healing and recovering was realistically presented and celebrated. This was a tough read but also a wonderful read that I needed to take my time with.
Beautiful, hauntingly sad, intimate, honest and courageous . . . . Halfe's collection of poems serves as a grim reminder of the legacy of the residential school system in terms of the devastating effects on the individual as well as their descendants.
...more
Beautiful, sorrowful, hopeful poems.
This book of poetry made me incredibly emotional.
such an amazing collection of poems. a great foil to reading the more detailed truth and reconciliation report.
Omg. Beautiful, painful, restorative. Can't believe I waited this long to read her--I'll snap up every one of her books now.
...more
A gorgeous and moving book of poetry about the impact on residential school on a native woman and her family.
I cried.
Loved this book.
I cried.
Loved this book.
One of those books that's both easy to read (the words slide right into you) and hard (the subject matter is heartbreaking though sometimes hopeful).
...more
“Now I am a nothing person. I cannot share what I don’t know.”
http://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2016/0...
Review by Clarissa Fortin
Lisa Bird-Wilson knows how to make words cut and sting.
In her debut poetry collection The Red Files Bird-Wilson skewers government attempts at an apology for residential schools.
"You sowed these seeds and you
apologize for having done this
thing that is still in the doing"
In Burning in this Midnight Dream, Louise Bernice Halfe takes on residential school stories, and other tales of injustice at the hands of Indian Affairs, in a profo ...more
Review by Clarissa Fortin
Lisa Bird-Wilson knows how to make words cut and sting.
In her debut poetry collection The Red Files Bird-Wilson skewers government attempts at an apology for residential schools.
"You sowed these seeds and you
apologize for having done this
thing that is still in the doing"
In Burning in this Midnight Dream, Louise Bernice Halfe takes on residential school stories, and other tales of injustice at the hands of Indian Affairs, in a profo ...more
This is a heart-breaking book written with courage and truth, and the strength of the images in these poems is unforgettable.
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Readers also enjoyed
Louise Halfe is known in Cree as Sky Dancer. She was born on the Saddle Lake First Nation reserve in Alberta in 1953. At the age of seven, she was sent away to Blue Quills Residential School in St. Paul, Alberta. She left home of her own accord when she was sixteen, breaking ties with her family and completing her studies at St. Paul's regional high school. It was at this time that she began writi
...more
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