Mihkokwaniy

my kokum has many names: the indian woman the whitehead lady a saskatoon female but my favourite is: the beauty queen;

they never meant to call her beautiful what they meant by beauty was: cheapdirtybrownprostitutedrugaddictalcoholicfirewaterslut when they write:

“an indian about 35 years old naked from the waist down died from asphyxiation at the queen’s hotel effects of alcohol

&sedatives” they don’t mean beauty as in: mino iskwēw or: “pleasing the sense or mind aesthetically; of a very high standard; excellent” what they mean is she is beautiful for a squaw in ‘62 she pleases the body of white men who burn in the loins for the teal-shade of a browning bruise; when i type into google

“how to say beautiful in cree” i get: shaoulle

& when i type that into google i get:

“brutal murder-sex assault case” seeRE:rinelleharpercindygladuetinafontaine

that’s my grandmother:

she is a mino iskwēw the beauty queen a woman with a name: rose whitehead &shediedbecauseofit

i read somewhere that saskatchewan is an economic machine for producing rape— seed&honey

& in tisdale you can buy a mug that says: the land of rape and honey that’s where my kokum is buried

& her grave is a modest little place where rabbits visit & sometimes chew where little dandelions bloom grant wishes to the wind to her children who are scattered