An unsolicited commission for the government of Canada in celebration of one hundred and fifty years

JIA QING WILSON-YANG

i. and so, history

like dust settled over a forced stillness on my behalf, promises of reconciliation my family, all my related dust settled here a fine powder

lung coating and viral a coat of paint on the landscape

a dim absent sheen that sounds brighter than it looks a memory omissive

we learn through repetition and work and the obvious lesson of all our colonial work leaves oblivious my family,

all my related dust of what we are apologizing for

as if it was just a simple misunderstanding a minor imbalance of ethics

with bad results

all our colonial work

remembered as inevitable and required forgotten as purposeful, premeditated, and ongoing