Winnipeg Arts Council

River city

I want to know you
From the inside
Not from outside you
Inside
Where you hide your true feelings
I want to walk these streets
See you where you hide
Watching me walk
Looking for our sameness
That sameness you say we carry together
I want to see you dance when the drum beats
Your hands raised to the sun
Baring the scars you carry
I want see you look at the stars at night
Then ask me which one is the star that birthed you
I want to meet you
Where the rivers join
One from the west
One from the south
They travel north together
To become part of mahkikamaw (big lake)
Melded becoming one with their own memories
And that lake
Shares the song you both sing
Gifting each place where waves stop to rest
A song born in the city
With its’ own drum beat
Created where the rivers meet
And the language is universal

DRM/2020