
Kim Senklip Harvey
An Indigenous Matriarchs Response to: Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools
afloat the atmosphere
i'm submerged into the north
strung into the ice
a cold ignited peace
with bellowing voices of Matriarchs
embodying their Ancestral power
the colonial in me
starts to melt away
in the early moments
i feel someone grasp my left hand
I came alone
no seat to my left
a hand grazes my face
breath
they are here
we dive in together
the slick black floor
seals out those unable to
sea
the animals
their nuanced presence
in body
their furry feet
a rapture of vagas connectivity
it will unnerve
the colonists
relentlessness of the white
perishing on crossings
of culture
of ignorance
starving on lands of plenty
we travel through ice
through the sounds of their lands
times of their bloodlines
I float inside the generous invitation
their instrumental
feminine offers
are nourishing
me back to life
the Ancestors touch my face
again
reminding me of their lives
their boundless offers
I feel undeniable
Indigenous love
embodied
adoration afflicted
deeply affected
into my bones
first contact
an alchemy that displaces us all
a fusion
we cannot return from
our interconnectivity
now baked into the ice
with the bodies and spirits
of both our Ancestors
conflicted irreconcilable pain
embody clouded impurities
course down my face
sounds
scenes
notes
reminders
presence
the tide
the ice
the cold
a sustained presence
of humbled impermanence
uaajeerneq
is here
and sucks out the shame
i delight
time breaks
chilling distillations of oneness
a savage reckoning
mass constellations of inversions of power
a joyous cosmology
too rarely visited
i
breathe the medicine
into my bloodlines
one day she will thaw
and be ingested by
future ancestors
into the deep
red
the place colonization
can never get to
i lock it
there forever
i bear witness
Kiinalik
your tools are sharp
cutting pathways of
protest
reclamation and
resurgence
our timeless
children are being fed
so thoughtfully
dearly
moving
a glacier feat
immersive power
your Ancestors are proud
mine are too
one more squeeze of the left hand
i smile
i feel safe
i exist in a new space
transformed
time circles in
lights shift
we sit
worlds crack
the ice block
breaks
into the audience
from that new intimate place
the Ancestors say
ᐅᓐᓄᓴᒃᑯᑦ
with de-colonial love
kim.
p.s you can buy tickets (if there are any left) here.

Photo: Jeremy Mimnagh
WRITERS, PERFORMERS Evalyn Parry and Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory
CREATORS Evalyn Parry, Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, Erin Brubacher and Elysha Poirier with Cris Derksen
DIRECTOR Erin Brubacher
LIVE VIDEO Elysha Poirier
ORIGINAL COMPOSITION AND LIVE MUSIC Cris Derksen and Evalyn Parry
SOUND Aleda Deroche
LIGHTING DESIGN Rebecca Picherack
SET DESIGN Kaitlin Hickey CREATED IN Buddies Residency Program