Spawn

by Marie-Andrée Gill, Kristen Renee Miller (Translator)

Spawn is a braided collection of brief, untitled poems, a coming-of-age lyric set in the Mashteuiatsh Reserve on the shores of Lake Piekuakami (Saint-Jean) in Quebec. Undeniably political, Marie-Andrée Gill's poems ask: How can one reclaim a narrative that has been confiscated and distorted by colonizers?

The poet's young avatar reaches new levels on Nintendo, stays up too late online, wakes to her period on class photo day, and carves her lovers' names into every surface imaginable. Encompassing twenty-first-century imperialism, coercive assimilation, and 90s-kid culture, the collection is threaded with the speaker's desires, her searching: for fresh water to "take the edge off," for a "habitable word," for sex. For her "true north"—her voice and her identity.

Like the life cycle of the ouananiche that frames this collection, the speaker's journey is cyclical; immersed in teenage moments of confusion and life on the reserve, she retraces her scars to let in what light she can, and perhaps in the end discover what to "make of herself".

Genres: Poetry, Indigenous, Canada, Nonfiction

96 pages, Paperback

First published September 28, 2015

About the author

Marie-Andrée Gill est originaire de Mashteuiatsh et voue un culte aux métaphores savoureuses et à plusieurs poètes et écrivains. C'est tout naturellement qu'elle a entrepris d'écrire à son tour un premier recueil de poésie publié à compte d'auteur, Béante, en réimpression. Parallèlement, elle habite sur une montagne perdue et essaie d'élever ses trois garçons à coup de bandes dessinées, de dictionnaires et de mangas. Elle aime bien suivre des cours au Bac en littérature de l'Université du Québec à Chicoutimi et a très hâte de commencer un autre projet d'écriture parce que ça la fait vraiment « tripper ».

Reviews

[Lauren]

"At the lake, the fish were looking
for is the ouananiche. In Ilnu:
'she who is found everywhere
or little lost one'"
.
From SPAWN by Marie-Andrée Gill, translated from the French by Kristen Renee Miller, 2015/2020 @bookhug_press

#ReadtheWorld21 📍Innu / Mashteuiatsh Reserve, Quebec, Canada

Economy of words.
Lyric minimalism, yet substantial in setting and meaning.

Gill's SPAWN traces the dual life cycles of the writer herself, and the ouananiche, the landlocked salmon that live in Lake Piekuakami / Lac Saint-Jean in south-central Québec.

Told in 4 parts, each "chapter" describes this specific salmon's life - in the tributaries and the lake "where she lives large in the cold, clear waters at rock bottom". Gill superimposes slice-of-life poems - late night swims and hookups at the lake, playing videogames with friends, sex, spiritual and ancestral connection. Multiple mentions of "freshwater" forge that bond with her home and that of her ancestors, and to the salmon metaphor she uses throughout the collection.
.
.
the lake eats away a little more cement with bleeding gums

and I want this whole thing over with
like that first french kiss on the rampart

(we are everywhere lost)
___

le lac gruge un peu plus ciment les gencives en sang

et j'ai envie que tout ça finisse au plus vite
comme ce premiere french sur le rempart

(nous sommes partout égarés)

[Yvonne]

I'll come up with a rating later, but this is by far the best "Instagram poetry" I've come across. It's unique, full of heart, and filled with imagery. I'd definitely read more from this poet going forward and I will likely be revisiting this in the future.

[Care · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spare, ambiguous, sometimes quite powerful and beautifully translated.

Poems that touch on land, water, sexuality, 90s culture, alcoholism, and language.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

To use in grade 12. Stark imagery, lots of longing, lovely and complex. Read as a long poem but doesn't need to be. First Nations author, writing in French, translated to English. Lots to dig into.

[Littlebookterror · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is my first time reading translated poetry? Definitely the first one that draws so heavily on the author's place of birth.


This collection builds up each small, untitled poem to create a picture in your head of the Mashteuiash Reserve and Lake Piekuakami. Gill shows both the beautiful sides - the colours, the nature, her childhood memories - as well as the uglier things - poverty, alcoholism, the outsider looking in.

the rampart

suspended in time
prams, drunk boys

day and night the dogs

day and night the dandelions push
through cracks in the cement

and before us, the lake
a luck
the lake.

I loved how direct and visual her language was ("varnish half-stripped from our memories") but also sparse, only ever giving glimpses at the life she has lead there. The reader might be allowed in and look around but never too close and always on her own terms.
That said, the collection is not just pretty metaphors, it also serves as a dialogue to explore Gill's feelings as an Indigenous woman on a reservation and how conflicted she is with that identity. Tension comes both from within her community

to smooth the rifts that time
has already scraped down my hide

and from the outside.

I leave a name behind at the border
at the edge of my disorder

All in all, I enjoyed this collection even if I found it too sparse at times.

As per usual, the small snippet of the translator, Kristen Renee Miller, should not be skipped as it gives you further insights into how she approached translating a work that is at its core about ones Indigenous idenitity into another settler language.

[Skylar Wampler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spawn is a lovely collection translated from the original French by Kristen Renee Miller. Spawn is a coming-of-age collection set in the speaker’s hometown on the Mashteuiatsh Reserve and the shores of Lake Piekuakami. The speaker loves fiercely, and is well aware of their place in the nature of settler-colonialist Canada. The translator mentions in a note at the end of the English edition, that she was delicate in translating the text from, “one settler language (French) to another (English)”. This translation is beautiful. The text could be read as one book-length poem, but the sections and poems stand on their own as well. This is a good collection for those just diving into poetry, teenagers, and those hoping to amplify marginalized voices.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book of poetry. Translated from French to English, I find myself surprised at how lovely the poetry flows in English. If only I knew French so that I may read it again in that language and re-discover the poems again.

I read this book as if it were one continuing story, and it worked very well as such.

[Elsie Coen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intriguing in the way that words fit together perfectly without making sense, and the topics give way to nostalgia despite being unsure throughout it all. Organized into an interesting mini-epic with cultural and linguistic influences worth researching further.

[A. C. Warner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book reminded me of why I love poetry.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spare, lovely, haunting.

[Dna]

Great poems, but...just not in the mood for poetry right now.

[literaryelise · Rating 5 out of 5]

“People have incredible colours / their hides painted / by the sun.”

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Only one thing takes the edge off: fresh water."