{"id":639,"date":"2017-09-02T00:00:34","date_gmt":"2017-09-02T07:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/?p=639"},"modified":"2017-12-21T14:45:09","modified_gmt":"2017-12-21T22:45:09","slug":"new-two-spirit-poetry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/?p=639","title":{"rendered":"New Two-Spirit Poetry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>(Kenora, Ont<\/em>.) Anishinaabe and #Two-Spirit<\/a> poet, Sydney Flett, whose mother is from Wauzhushk Onigum First Nation, Ontario<\/a> and father from\u00a0Wuskwi Sipihk First Nation, Manitoba<\/a>, recently launched a new collection of Two-Spirit poetry titled, Cusp of Brilliance<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This new collection of Two-Spirit poems is a personal reflection of the intersection and relationship between Sydney\u2019s Anishinaabe<\/a> identity and being Two-Spirit. \u201cThis project started as a magazine, but my computer crashed and lost my some of my work. I salvaged what I could, and what was left was a book of poetry,\u201d Sydney told the Two-Spirit Journal<\/a> (2SJ).<\/p>\n

Sydney is an active and engaged community member who volunteers and helps organize Kenora PRIDE <\/a>as well as their local LGBT2S+ youth peer support group called SPACE<\/a>. Sydney organized an event for local Two-Spirit community members to hear some of teaching and creation from Knowledge Keeper Ron Indian-Mandamin<\/a>. \u00a0Sydney also assisted in planning a week-long Two-Spirit youth camp in Wabaseemoong First Nation<\/a> last year. Sydney is a member of the Obishkinigiig\u00a0Youth Executive Council for Grand Council Treaty 3<\/a>, the Wiisokodaadiig Youth Council for Kenora Chiefs Advisory, and served as a member of the Minister’s Student Advisory Council for Ontario<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For the last two years, Sydney has been an administrative summer student for Seymour Law office<\/a>, before that Sydney worked\u00a0for Kenora Chiefs Advisory<\/a> as a youth co-facilitator for their Biizindadedah Family Parenting<\/a>, a partnered program with McGill University<\/a>. Sydney also started a First Nations, Metis, and Inuit leadership team at Saint Thomas Aquinas high school<\/a> in Kenora where Sydney just graduated from. Presently, Sydney is settling into Trent University<\/a>, as a first year student in the Indigenous Bachelor of Education program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sydney shared the following two excerpts, \u201cthey sort of go together, showing the transition I went through emotionally and spiritually,\u201d said Sydney.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first excerpt was my reaction to the suicide crisis and all the news about missing and murdered women. It was a time when I was very self-destructive and losing myself and who I am,\u201d Sydney told the 2SJ,\u201cThe second excerpt was when I was coming more to terms with myself, it was near the completion of the school year, and near the completion of the collection. I’ve joked that the Poetry tears you apart and then puts you back together again – that is very much what happened to me throughout the process of this. I feel writing this has helped me to understand, forgive, and accept\u00a0myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a copy of the book, contact Sydney Flett at sydneyflett@hotmail.com<\/a>, and tell Sydney that 2SJ sent you!<\/p>\n

Excerpts from Cusp of Brilliance<\/em><\/u><\/p>\n

I slipped into a daze of death and destruction.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The death surrounded me, suffocated me;<\/p>\n

came from across the nation,<\/p>\n

starting slow, then before you could make sense<\/p>\n

of what was happening you were drowning.<\/p>\n

The destruction was everywhere,<\/p>\n

families torn and broken,<\/p>\n

the constant news of death coming in waves.<\/p>\n

You can only take so much of death<\/p>\n

before you are numb to it.<\/p>\n

And you can’t help but know<\/p>\n

that there is something very wrong about that.<\/p>\n

Then, the destruction comes from within.<\/p>\n

Then, you tear yourself apart<\/p>\n

so others don’t have the chance.<\/p>\n

You internalize everything,<\/p>\n

knowing damn well what it will do to you.<\/p>\n

And the thing is,<\/p>\n

you let it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6 April 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

I felt \u00a0drained, a great sadness<\/p>\n

came over me, nay, took hold of me,<\/p>\n

I could drift into tears<\/p>\n

and lose myself forever.<\/p>\n

I borrowed a car,<\/p>\n

made a joke about<\/p>\n

not coming back,<\/p>\n

in bad taste I might add.<\/p>\n

I drove to sacred land<\/p>\n

passing an\u00a0eagle<\/p>\n

that seemed sentinel<\/p>\n

as I entered<\/p>\n

I found the beach,<\/p>\n

and went to the shore<\/p>\n

where\u00a0the ice had broken\u00a0up<\/p>\n

just enough for a person to slip in<\/p>\n

I offered my tobacco,<\/p>\n

and found my way to the opening.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I couldn’t feel the cold<\/p>\n

what I could feel was my spirit being renewed<\/p>\n

when it was time to get out,<\/p>\n

the sun was setting,<\/p>\n

and a streak of lilac painted the sky,<\/p>\n

an eagle was soaring, just as I was<\/p>\n

and all was quiet,<\/p>\n

and all was calm<\/p>\n

and I<\/p>\n

was alive<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Kenora, Ont.) Anishinaabe and #Two-Spirit poet, Sydney Flett, whose mother is from Wauzhushk Onigum First Nation, Ontario and father from Wuskwi Sipihk First Nation, Manitoba, recently launched a new collection of Two-Spirit poetry titled, Cusp of Brilliance. This new collection of Two-Spirit poems is a personal reflection of the intersection and relationship between Sydney’s Anishinaabe identity …Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,14,5,15],"tags":[24,16],"class_list":["post-639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts","category-canada","category-current-events","category-identity","tag-24","tag-two-spirit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=639"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":650,"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639\/revisions\/650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twospiritjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}