Procession

A member of the Red River Métis tribe, Vermette (North End Love Songs) probes her family’s past and future in this ruminative if uneven outing. In the opening section, “Biindigen,” Vermette explores the relationship between writer, reader, and the broader world as it manifests in the space of the poem (“before/ anything else/ my spirit/ light/ greets yours”). The section’s last poem, “procession” (“you are only here/ to learn from those who came before/ and make space/ for those who come after”), serves as a bridge to the second section, “carry memory,” an extended meditation on photography as a social and family practice. Later sections offer narrative poems organized around childhood memories (“you can still feel this/ in your chest/ all these years later”) and lyric examinations of death, dreams, and the women in the speaker’s life (“my mother/ grandmother/ all their sisters/ openly talked about their dreams/ how in their dreams they would see/ the future”). A plainspoken voice yields gems of beauty and brilliance (“our mothers are/ our first mirrors”) alongside clichés (“twinkle-eyed and cocksure/ Uncle was a man/ who had the world by the balls” and self-help catchphrases (“live life/ as if/ you’ve chosen it”). It adds up to a tender yet somewhat haphazard offering. (Sept.)