Trees Leaves Solemnity: a deep-voiced lost boy story is an earlier poem in a body of work that reflects deeply on Indigeneity, nostalgia, romance and trauma (among many others). Written on Kanawhake Mohawk lands (Montreal, QC), the poem reflects on a romantic encounter whilst living abroad. The encounter inevitably ends, as time overcomes all. Leaving questions surrounding the lingering impermanence of love in a young man’s life, and a deeper interrogation of the trauma and social cognition associated with fuckery and fuckboy behaviour.
The poem tells of different moments in time and ancestral memory, reflecting on truth and history, at times in an effort to rationalize the conditions of toxic and hypermasculinity in the colonial project of the (so-called) 21st century. The cascading structure represents the shifting elements of country, especially in the cold and isolating fronts that encompass Kanawhake in the winter months. The structure also reflects the imagining between past and present - always moving back and forth.
This work is inherently healing - as it identifies trauma in an honest way. Leaving not much more to ponder, other than a path to deeper understanding of systemic toxicity; and an openness to developing positive relationships with self, romance and emotional health.
Read the poem in full here...