1.

Resettle
to settle again
to start again
to begin all over again
in direction…. in wind

in sheets on a clothesline
like your own life
whipped about
flapped about
whipped about
flapped about

tell me
is there is no woodsmoke in these parts

***

2.

Resettling officer
one who helps you fill out forms
one who helps you re-settle
one who knows where social services are
one who knows when the court appearances are

fold up the sheets from the clothesline
hold them up to your fate
hold them up to your face
hold them up to the sky
hold them up to the tree
hold them up to the sound of playing children
hold them up to the bills
hold them up to the calendar
hold them up to the stove
hold them up to the dusty window sill

he’s not coming… the resettlement officer says
settle in

no smell of woodsmoke… not in this country

***

3.

Resettled
recent memories of past settlement
& having set down yet again
or even for the first time
to be turned
to be re-turned
to be unturned
to be brought back to this space of dankness

guess what’s a word… the child asks
what… you respond
insouciance
what does it mean… you ask back
I don’t know… the child says
it just feels good in my mouth

insouciance
insouciance
Insouciance
like sweets in my mouth… the child says
rolling the word
twisting her mouth

do you remember Patco… the child asks
who can forget

***

4.

Unsettled
as in disturbed
stopped or still
in process
the mountains out in the rockies are unsettled
you say

why you say that… the child asks
because they haven’t stopped moving
the mountains are in a race to the east coast
what’s in the east coast… the child asks

your father
your father is in the east coast
your father is like the mountains
your father is like the rockies
your father also
hangs on to memories of the sea
that’s how come there are sea fossils in the rockies
that’s how come they’re so far away from the coast
that’s how come your father carries a round pebble in his pocket
that’s how come the wind blows as it does
that’s how come the breeze is a kiss
the wind a sneeze to remind us
that the smell of woodsmoke is also a haunting

***

5.

You settled you say
You’re rich now

Are you extended?
you big?
you fluid?
you got?
you measure?
you slim?
you better?
you better?
you better?

When flight took
did you soar?



Photo credit: “The Belonging Action” was facilitated by Melanie Schambach. Ten young artists invited eighty other participants to reflect about their connection to belonging while looking back at the histories of migration of peoples and cultures to Coast Salish land since time immemorial. In 2011, this process took 6 months to complete, producing a 24’ X 34’ mural installed at Vancouver’s Harbour Centre Parkade.

Juliane Okot Bitek has never stopped exploring the power of narrative, focusing her essays, poetry and nonfiction work on political and social issues.  Her work has been published widely on-line, in print and in literary magazines such as Event, The Capilano Review, Room, Arc, Whetstone, Fugue, and recently anthologized  in Love Me True: Writers Reflect on the Ups, Downs, Ins & Outs of Marriage, Transition: Writing Black Canadas, Great Black North; Contemporary African Canadian Poetry and Revolving City: 51 Poems and the Stories Behind Them. Juliane’s 100 Days (University of Alberta 201) was shortlisted for several writing prizes including the 2017 Pat Lowther Award (League of Canadian Poets), 2017 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize (BC Book Prizes), 2017 Canadian Authors Award for Poetry (Canada Authors Association), Alberta Book Awards, and the Robert Kroetsch Award for Poetry. 100 Days won the 2017 INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award for Poetry and the 2017 Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry.