Land Acknowledgement Poem!

Hey everyone! For this week's blog post, I am actually going to share one of the poems that I wrote for one of my writing classes! Land Acknowledgements, as you all probably know, are incredibly important, and in a British Columbian context, they recognize the traditional, ancestral, and unceded homelands of Indigenous Peoples. This piece that I am sharing with you all, as you have probably guessed from the title, is a Land Acknowledgement poem! I personally believe that Land Acknowledgements need to be personal and meaningful from settlers to have any impact, and this poem is me doing the heart-work that I need to be doing as an educator!

My Land Acknowledgement Poem:

place

is not

only time

and space. it weaves

worlds, nurtures Newborns

and Elders alike. it

sustains stomachs and souls. it

heals hearts and homes. rich histories

of Ceremony – Cedar, Sweetgrass.

Place is our strength, knowledge, and resistance.

This type of poem (or its form!) is called an etheree. Etheree poems are ten lines and each line number matches the amount of syllables within the line (ex. line 1 has 1 syllable, line 2 has 2 syllables, line 3 has 3 syllables, line 4 has...you guessed it! 4 syllables! And so on.)

I hope you all try creating your own etheree poems on any topic that interests you!!

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Author: Misha, ITMP Blog Coordinator

Image Credits: Molly Costello via Art for Community