1 - How did your first book change your life? How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?
Spruce to Cedar was my debut poetry collection that came out earlier this year. I wrote those poems between 2020-2025. In writing those poems, I was able to put my thoughts onto paper, and through writing out my feelings, my thoughts, my homesickness, those poems helped me heal, learn, and grow confidence in myself and find my voice..
I have been writing newer poems this past year, and I can see the influence of Spruce to Cedar on my newer work, though I can also see the growth and maturation in my current writing that Spruce to Cedar couldn’t have as I’ve been processing grief. My father passed away two years ago from cancer. It has been difficult, my life has changed in so many ways since he passed; just like when I wrote Spruce to Cedar, the writing process has helped me process my feelings and pain by putting my experience, thoughts, and grief onto paper.
I have always been interested in writing.
I remember writing stories about my first dog, Joker, when I was only six years
old. Throughout my teenage years, I would write stories in my free time. I remember finishing a first draft
of a fiction novel when I was fifteen, but I never
finished that story. I only started experimenting with poetry in my
twenties; those first poems weren’t good, as I was focusing on the wrong
inspiration. However, once I started writing about home and my culture,
something clicked and ever since, I haven’t looked back, as I mainly write poems
focusing on my culture and my personal experiences.
Spruce to Cedar took four to five years to write. When I wrote the first poems, I didn’t think that they would end up in a collection. When a poem forms, it begins in my notes app, it’s often a passing thought or a memory. Oftentimes, right before I drift off to sleep, or when I’m taking a long bus ride, there is a thought that must be written down before I forget it. These notes could either be a quick short sentence or two, or sometimes it’s the whole poem written out for me to use later. Not all of my ideas get used, but that is usually how most of my poems begin. A quick idea or memory that I don’t want to forget.
Most of my ideas need some work;
their forms take various shapes,
and rewriting until
I’m fully happy with them,
it’s been rare to have a poem fully formed and unedited, though there have been
a few. It’s a slow process, especially with Spruce
to Cedar, as the poems were slowly written down as the ideas and memories
came to me over the years.
My poems begin as an idea or a memory that I don’t want to forget; they’re often written in my notes app for safekeeping. When I’m ready to fully flesh out the idea or memory into a poem, I often search my notes app for any idea or memory that sticks out to me. Not every idea I’ve written down has turned into a poem, but that’s usually how my beginning process looks for the poems that I have written for Spruce to Cedar. Because I’m mostly working on short ideas, I don’t focus on the larger picture of a book theme; instead, I write my poems, and if a theme finds me, then so be it.
I have always had a hard time speaking to people I don’t know; it’s because of this that public speaking is hard for me, but it does get easier to do the more often I do it. I tend to get nervous, especially when it comes to my poems. My writing has often felt like a diary to me, there’s poems that detail thoughts that I never told anyone before, but it felt right to write it down in my poems. I have done a few readings now with the release of Spruce to Cedar, and it has been difficult to share my work in person, but I do think it’s good practice, and I hope I grow more confident with every event or reading that I do participate in in the future.
In Spruce to Cedar,
there was an overwhelming theme
of finding connection where you are. What makes a home a home? And can it
be recreated elsewhere? There’s also themes of connection to culture, and
decolonizing oneself to reconnect with your roots.
Writing is an important craft; humans have shared stories with one another since the beginning of humanity. There are oral stories told to me from my culture that have lasted generations. Being a writer is important; it helps share ideas, stories, and history to a larger culture. There are stories that have been read for decades, and poems that have been read for centuries. Writing is especially important today with the rise of AI, as disingenuous stories are being crafted and created using robot algorithms for a quick sale and quick consumption. With today's technology, writing genuine stories and perspectives is vital; it’s important to keep writing alive, to share human stories. To be able to take the time to slow down, read a book, and feel its impact is important. In order to process our perspectives, share our culture, and impact our culture, then we must write it down!
I feel that it is important to have your poems looked at by outside editors as they can breathe new ideas and perspectives to your work that you wouldn’t have added otherwise. They can also be more honest with you about your work, which is important as sometimes it’s hard to see how your poem might be read outside your own personal context or inner circle. Having editors help with my poems really helped them develop into beautiful poems, poems that wouldn’t be possible without their perspectives and input.
Only you can control how you react.
This was advice given to me by one of my therapists over the past two years. It has helped me, especially when publishing Spruce to Cedar. A part of me was worried about what the reaction was going to be in my family/community when I released my work. I knew that there was going to be positive feedback, but I was also worried about negative feedback as well.
In reminding myself that I can’t control the outcome or feelings of others, I was able to push those worries aside and publish my work without much anxiety over how my words were going to be taken. I wrote about my home with so much love, but also harsh honesty, so it was a little nerve wracking to release these poems knowing that people at home would be reading them. So far I’ve only gotten positive feedback. So I’m grateful I didn’t stress myself out too much about it!
I haven’t really established a writing routine. There are stretches of time where I don’t write, and there are weeks where all I do is write. My writing always starts in my notes app, or on the back of napkins. When I’m ready to write, I look back at the notes I’ve collected and pick what idea motivates me the most in the moment. I’m most motivated to write when I’m processing something, hence why Spruce to Cedar has such heavy themes of homesickness and finding connection to a culture I felt disconnected to. I found that I wrote a majority of the poems in Spruce to Cedar while I was living in Vancouver, separated from my home, community, and roots.
I wouldn’t mind finding a writing routine; however, it has always been difficult for me to make new routines and stick to them. Maybe one day I’ll have a designated writing hour, or routine, but at the moment I write when I feel motivated to.
There have been moments where I’m not writing much, but it’s always my need to reconnect to my culture that inspires me in my writing and my art. My culture has always been healing to me; my childhood was filled with culture, and today I’m always trying to reconnect to my culture.
I’m currently applying to a language program to improve my Southern Tutchone, and lately, I’ve been researching Kloo Lake. A place where my father grew up, and my grandma, and great-grandparents too. Looking to my roots has grounded me and given me a better understanding of who I am as a person, and who my ancestors were too.
My culture includes reconnecting with the land, sewing, singing, and dancing. In this last year of being back in the Yukon, I’ve taken workshops to learn how to trap and hunt. I’m desperate to reconnect; it’s all I want to do.
cigarette smoke, the downstairs basement, Ä́tàʼs coat lilac & jasmine, Semoʼs perfume, lotion, shampoo
wood chips, outside workshop, burl bowl crafting, tourist attraction
nivea pearly shine lipbalm, christmas morning, lipbalm in stocking, lipbalm in vanity
tanned moose hide, Dákwäkäda dancing, native language class, visits to Ä́tsų Khįąʼs house to watch her sew
green apple dish soap, in Ä́tsųąʼs kitchen
irish spring bar soap, 3-in-1 vanilla ice cream body wash, shower nights after the weekly water delivery
moose fat in soup broth, long potlatch days, eating lunch, sleeping on Semoʼs lap afterwards
A huge part of my personality includes the media I consume. I have a growing vinyl collection of all my favourite albums, and I always make sure I buy a copy of my favourite movies and tv shows. I find that music has a huge influence on my life. I listen to music every day. It's very important to me. There are songs that I can listen to and be instantly transported to certain points in my life. Happier Than Ever takes me to moving to Vancouver in August, 2021. Dawn FM, April 2022; Simple Man takes me to funeral planning, July 2024, and any AC/DC song takes me to the 2000s. These songs become nostalgic for me; I’m sure when I think back to this year, I’ll think of Olivia Rodrigo’s new album. I’ve always enjoyed music that has honest and vulnerable storytelling, and when it comes to writing my own experiences, I always try to be as honest and vulnerable as I can. I think the influence of these songs helps with the vulnerability I put into my own work.
Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson. This book follows seven different characters who all have to navigate a settler society while trying to find reconnection to the land and their indigeneity. I never considered the importance of tarp until I read this, and honestly, tarp is sacred.
Fight Night by Miriam Toews, an intergenerational story that will pull at your heartstrings. The story follows a pregnant mother, a child, and their grandma. Swiv is expelled from school, and because of this, she spends time with her grandmother, who encourages her to write to her father, who is out of the picture; in turn, Swiv challenges her grandmother to write to her unborn sister. The ending of the book had me crying for an hour; it’s beautiful, it's heartbreaking, it’s family.
These books were so impactful to me, I think about them often and honestly, I’m due for a re-read soon!
I would like to travel. It’s always been a
dream of mine to travel around the world like my Grandpa. I hope that one day I can say that I’ve travelled
across the ocean, at least once. I think
travelling would give me new perspectives and connections, and I would be able
to learn new things
about new cultures and countries.
I’m not sure what career I would have had if I wasn’t a writer. There was a time that I thought I wanted to be a teacher. I even took teacher education in Vancouver; however, that didn’t work out for me. I think maybe I would have looked into doing something cultural, or maybe working with my First Nations Band.
My passion for writing began with grief. I was six and my first dog, Joker, passed away suddenly in the night. I was distraught, and I wanted to remember him forever. Back in the 2000s, most homes had a designated family computer. The old computer was second-hand and wasn’t connected to the internet most of the time. My sister and I would entertain ourselves with MS Paint or write nonsense in Word docs. Being six, I didn’t know much about typing, only what was shown in school. I tried my best to replicate what I learned in typing class, and I used spellcheck and my mom’s knowledge to my advantage, but I began writing stories about Joker.
These stories were fictional; the dogs in our front yard could talk and had big personalities; they would go on adventures, create a rock band, go fishing, chase Bigfoot into the woods. Grief fueled my passion for writing, and that passion for writing never left me. I continued to write new stories in my teenage years, and even now in my twenties I’m writing poems almost every day.
Hey June by Cree Nomad has had a big impact on me since reading it. The book explores themes of loss, grief, and love. I read this book while my grief was the freshest, and it’s stuck with me since. I would recommend this book to everyone, and it’s also written by an Indigenous author.
Project Hail Mary, the movie, had a huge impact on me after watching it last April. The visuals in this film were stunning, and the story of finding connection despite being isolated really hit me. When I watched this film, the Artemis II mission was in full swing, and honestly everything in my life felt like it was looking up. It was the first time in a long time I felt hopeful.
I’ve been writing poems surrounding the idea of grief, family, loss, and of course, culture. I’m also currently planning a potlatch for my father, as in my culture the funeral is held in two parts. The funeral comes first, and a year or two afterwards comes the potlatch to honour their life, and to finish the burial (headstone & gravehouse). I’m not sure if the poems I’ve been writing for the past two years will turn into a full book like Spruce to Cedar; at the moment, I’m using the same process that I did for Spruce to Cedar, which is to write my feelings out into my notes, and if the feeling persists, I flesh it out into a poem. It has helped me process the grief in the poems. But I’ve also been having a hard time writing, as I feel like I’m focusing too much on creating a beautiful piece of work rather than feeling my pain. So I’m not sure if what I’m writing now is going to be seen for a very long time, or at all.
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