Guest Post: Lee Maracle

(Lee Maracle- Photo by Christine McFarlane)

Lee Maracle, of Salish and Cree ancestry, a member of the Stó:lō Nation, was born in North Vancouver, B.C. in 1950. She is the mother of four and grandmother of four and was one of the first Aboriginal people to be published in the early 1970s. She is one of the founders of the En'owkin International School of Writing in Penticton, BC, a learning institute with an Indigenous Fine Arts Program and an Okanagon Language Program. Maracle has taught creative writing and held a visiting professorship with the Women's Studies program at the University of Toronto. She was the traditional cultural director for the Centre for Indigenous Theatre and the Aboriginal Mentor in the Transitional Year Program at the University of Toronto. She has been theDistinguished Visiting Professor of Canadian Culture at Western Washington University and a Writer-in-Residence at the University of Guelph.

The author of a number of critically acclaimed literary works including: Sojourner's and Sundogs, Ravensong, Bobbi Lee, Daughters Are Forever, Will's Garden, Bent Box, I Am Woman, she is also the co-editor of a number of anthologies including the award winning publication, My Home As I Remember. She is a co-author of Telling It: Women and Language Across Culture. Lee is widely published in anthologies and scholarly journals worldwide. Maracle is an award-winning writer and teacher, and an occasional editor, film story editor, dramaturge, stage actor and a gifted orator.

By: Lee Maracle

It was one of those kinds of days

The sun was planted up there in the sky

lookin’ like it was rockin’ and rollin’

between indecisive clouds

The day volleyed between bright light

and semi-dark, unable to make up its mind

whether to shine or cloud up

            just like my Gus.