Creeland

by Dallas Hunt

Creeland is a poetry collection concerned with notions of home and the quotidian attachments we feel to those notions, even across great distances. Even in an area such as Treaty Eight (northern Alberta), a geography decimated by resource extraction and development, people are creating, living, laughing, surviving and flourishing—or at least attempting to.

The poems in this collection are preoccupied with the role of Indigenous aesthetics in the creation and nurturing of complex Indigenous lifeworlds. They aim to honour the encounters that everyday Cree economies enable, and the words that try—and ultimately fail—to articulate them. Hunt gestures to the movements, speech acts and relations that exceed available vocabularies, that may be housed within words like joy, but which the words themselves cannot fully convey. This debut collection is vital in the context of a colonial aesthetic designed to perpetually foreclose on Indigenous futures and erase Indigenous existence.

the Cree word for constellation

is a saskatoon berry bush in summertime

the translation for policeman

in Cree is mîci nisôkan, kohkôs

the translation for genius

in Cree is my kôhkom muttering in her sleep

the Cree word for poetry is your four-year-old

niece’s cracked lips spilling out

broken syllables of nêhiyawêwin in between

the gaps in her teeth 

Genres: Poetry, Indigenous, Canada

126 pages, ebook

First published April 24, 2021

About the author

Dallas Hunt is a teacher, writer, and member of Wapisewsipi (Swan River First Nation) in Treaty 8 territory in Northern Alberta, Canada. As a proponent of language revitalization, he wanted his debut book for children, Awâsis and the World-Famous Bannock, to include words in Cree. Dallas lives in Winnipeg and enjoys reading great books to his nieces and nephews.

Reviews

[Jessica Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I need more than 5 stars for this one.

[Savannah Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It healed part of my little cree heart. The poem “There are no good settlers” was great and made me reflect a lot about my work environment in the government.

[Paige Pierce · Rating 5 out of 5]

5+/5

a gorgeous and sharp collection of poems. superb and eye-opening. a major text in my personal journey towards truth and reconciliation.

[Sabrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite poems are Porcupine I & II, Cree Dictionary, I Almost Had A Mental Breakdown During My Master’s Degree, There Are No Good Settlers, Narrative Trap(Ping), and Tracks.

[Jessie Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had the privilege of hearing Hunt speak about his PhD research at the end of July and thought he was brilliant and wonderfully articulate in his delivery. This collection reaffirms his mastery of words and blends the political and poetic in really interesting ways. I always love a collection that can make me chuckle and tear up - this one did both!

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dallas Hunt's academic prowess shines brightly in this collection, but even so is overshadowed by the irreverent, emotional way he writes about matriarchs and their power, the land and its power. This is a collection everyone should have on their shelf.

[Patricia N. McLaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A powerful debut collection about Cree culture, Indigeneity, love and loss, family relations, and colonialism and its profoundly negative impact on “ndns.”

Favorite Poems:
“No Obvious Signs of Distress”
“Wahkohtowin”
“I Was Born Blue”
“A Crook That Signifies Home”
“Spiraling (Fine for Now)”
“Spillimacheen”
“There Are No Good Settlers”
“Even Tombs Die”
“Common Spaces”

[ChiChi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Powerful. Moving. Thoughtful. Upsetting. Emotional.
I wish this book could be studied by high school kids in Canada!

[rei · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75*

[Reagan Kapasi · Rating 4 out of 5]

For when you wished you could turn to the author and ask his advice.

"This world is one that insists
on constantly bruising
and yet adamantlyencourages us
not to be tender."

[Colleen Jantzen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant and humbling read

[Jbondandrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine book of poetry.