The Silence
Page 15
into cloud; blown high
into the atmosphere,
swirls and dances
to the North
on high winds.
Home
to the high country.
Home
to the alpine,
to glacial ice scape.
I have come
to this earth
from Water people
and I too
have come home,
to the mountains,
to the alpine,
glacial scape,
home
to the high country.
I live
with my deep love
of the deep North
that is the same
as my deep love
for the south sea.
I, part of them,
they, part of me.
One and the same.
Karen Lee White is a Northern Salish, Tuscarora, Chippewa, and Scots writer from Vancouver Island, British Columbia. She was adopted into the Daklaweidi clan of the Interior Tlingit/Tagish people, on whose land this story unfolds.
In 2017 Karen was awarded an Indigenous Art Award for Writing by the Hnatyshyn Foundation. Her work has appeared in Exile’s That Dammed Beaver: Canadian Humour; Laughs and Gaffes anthology, EXILE/ELQ magazine, the collection of Indigenous writers Impact, Colonialism in Canada, and other literary journals. She has been commissioned as a playwright by theatres in Vancouver and Victoria, and was commissioned by the Banff Centre to produce a story for the “Fables of the 21st Century” special edition, released in 2018.
Acknowledgements:
To my late mother, who always believed I was a writer and read every scrap of paper she ever found with my writing on it.
To my late brother, who would have written breathtaking work had he had the chance.
To Witi Ihimaera, who said if I didn't write this book that he would.
To Miles Morriseau, who did the first editing and who believed in this work.
To Bruce Meyer whose structural editing genius is unsurpassed.
To Exile for their high standard of excellence, and for believing in this piece.
To Linda Rogers for seeing the spark in the piece and for support above and beyond the call of friendship.
To my sister Leslie Gentile for soul-stirring vocals on “Fire Within.”
To Mark Preston for the stunning cover art that captures the soul of the Yukon.
To my circle of loved ones, in this world and in the next.
You know who you are.
Table of Contents
The Silence
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Guide
Cover
Contents