mahikan ka onot - The poetry of Duncan Mercredi

Selected
with an
introduction by
Warren Cariou
and an
afterword by
Duncan Mercredi Wilfrid Laurier University Press acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities. This work was supported by the Research Support Fund.

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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Title: Mahikan ka onot : the poetry of Duncan Mercredi / selected with an introduction by Warren Cariou and an afterword by Duncan Mercredi. Other titles: Poems. | Cariou, Warren, 1966 editor, writer of introduction. | Cariou, Warren, 1966 editor, writer of introduction.

Series: Laurier poetry series. Description: Series statement: Laurier poetry series | Includes bibliographical references. Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 2020029654X | Canadiana (ebook) 20200297422 | ISBN 9781771124744 (softcover) | ISBN 9781771124751 (EPUB) | ISBN 9781771124768 (PDF) Classification: LCC PS8576.E722 A6 2020 | DDC C811/.54dc23

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Front cover image: We are the Moon by David Hallet. Cover design by Gary Blakeley. Interior design by Mike Bechthold. 2020 Wilfrid Laurier University Press Waterloo, Ontario, Canada www.wlupress.wlu.ca This book is printed on FSC certified paper and is certified Rainforest Alliance and Ancient Forest Friendly.

It contains postconsumer fibre, is processed chlorine free, and is manufactured using biogas energy. Every reasonable effort has been made to acquire permission for copyright material used in this text, and to acknowledge all such indebtedness accurately. Any errors and omissions called to the publishers attention will be corrected in future printings. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright licence, visit http://www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777. Dedicated to my family and to the people of Misipawistik, annoying as I can be, they gave me a voice and a medium to share that voice.

Duncan Mercredi

The Laurier Poetry Series was conceived in 2002 as a means to celebrate Canadian poetry and to introduce new readers to the richness and diversity of its poets. Rather than curate another large anthology that featured only a few poems by each poet, we thought it a better idea to suggest the real range of a poets work by enlarging the selection. Our anthology would have to comprise many volumes. But why persist with a traditional anthology? Why not create a series of small and affordable volumes, each devoted to the work of a single poet? Each volume could be introduced by a knowledgeable reader, familiar with the poets work and addressing it in greater depth than in normal anthologies; and each volume could close with the poet contributing an afterword such as no standard anthology could offer. Readers could pick and choose which poets they wanted to explore; instructors could also pick and choose combinations of volumes in a package for their studentsand could change this selection from semester to semester. And the volumes could reach an international audience.

Each would also have the potential to open out onto other books by the featured poet. That was the blueprint. The Series was launched in 2004, with Catherine Hunters selection of the poetry of Lorna Crozier, Before the First Word. There have been over thirty volumes since, offering introductions to a wide range of poets and poetries, and more are in the works. The Laurier Poetry Series is now the most comprehensive collection of Canadian poetries in print anywhere. All volumes are also available as digital editions.

We are continuously grateful for the consummate professionalism of the team at Wilfrid Laurier University Press which has ensured that these sometimes technically tricky volumes are presented accurately and beautifully. In particular, we would like to acknowledge the invaluable work of Managing Editor Rob Kohlmeier, who oversaw production of the Series from its beginning until his retirement in 2020. At this time we would also like to welcome Tanis MacDonald to the editorial team. Tanis is a professor of creative writing and English at WLU and a fine poet in her own right. What continues to inspire us about the LPS is its reception across the country. The love and art and passion and intimacy that thirty-plus editors and thirty-plus poets have brought to their volumes; the innumerable hours and conversations and meetings; the thousands of emails between and among poets and editors and the staff at WLU Press; the generous reviews in the countrys journals; the reception in classrooms and beyond: all of this eloquently speaks to the joyful proliferation of poetry in Canada today.

With each new volume, LPS hopes to continue to recognize the growing provenance of this wealth, the wide range of these riches. Our poetsand their readersdeserve nothing less. Brian Henderson and Neil Besner
General Editors

A little bit about me, born in Misipawistik (Grand Rapids) Manitoba. I grew up in that small northern village and lived in a two storey log cabin with my kookum (grandmother), father and mother. The early years surrounded by an older brother, older sister, younger brother and younger sister and probably about 20 cousins, all within walking distance. I helped my father with his dogs, fishing and some trapping.

I wasnt much of a hunter, so my father gave up on trying to make me one but my kookum told him to leave me alone, my path was taking me on another journey. I left Misipawistik when I was 16 to attend high school in Cranberry Portage, MB. I worked for the Department of Highways maintenance division during summer breaks from school. After graduation I worked for the Department of Highways Construction Surveys. The two years with the department, went from Misipawistik to Minago River, William Lake bush camps located next to Highway No. 6.

When that job was completed I was sent to Soab Lake, a little lake situated between Waboden and Thompson, MB. My next stop would have been a camp between Thompson and Nelson House but decided against it. I hadnt spent much time with my daughter who was born during my time at Minago River, it was time to go home. I worked for a summer with a carpenter contractor but it was not a full time position and with two daughters I had no option but seek a steady job. Later that summer I landed work with Manitoba Hydro and was sent to 8 Mile Channel, a bush camp located near Playgreen Lake and Lake Winnipeg, about a two hour drive from Norway House. When summer came I went back to Winnipeg, my partner was expecting and I decided against going back up north.

I found a job with the Department of Highways, Land Surveys Division, it meant being away from home but only five days a week and home on the weekends. Twenty three years later, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) came calling to train their lands unit employees all about land surveys. It was to be for a two year stint which ended up being the strangest twenty two year career. The month before I retired I decided to put down on paper every place I either stayed in or visited while with the highways department and INAC, I stopped counting after reaching 140. The one thing that has remained with me all those times with the highways and INAC, nearly every motel, hotel I stayed in had the same lime green walls and same carpet design. Duncan