Description
Jónína Kirton is a Red River Métis/Icelandic poet. Born in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, the land of the Anishinabewaki ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᐗᑭ, Očhéthi Šakówiŋ and the Michif Piyii (Métis), she currently lives in New Westminster, British Columbia, the unceded territory of many Coast Salish nations, including the Qayqayt, S’ólh Téméxw (Stó:lō), sc̓əwaθenaɁɬ təməxʷ(Tsawwassen), šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmaɁɬ təməxʷ (Musqueam), Sḵwxwú7mesh, səl̓ilwətaɁɬ təməxʷ (Tsleil-Waututh), kʷikʷəƛ̓əm, Stz’uminus, sq̓əc̓iy̓aɁɬ təməxʷ (Katzie) and Kwantlen.
Standing in a River of Time merges poetry and lyrical memoir on a journey exposing the intergenerational effects of colonization on a Métis family. Kirton does not shy away from hard realities, meeting them head on, but always treating them with respect and the love stemming from a lifetime of spiritual healing and decades of sobriety. This collection unravels painful memories and a mixed-blood woman’s journey towards wholeness. The Ancestors whisper to Kirton throughout, asking her to heal, to bring them home, so that within these stories of redemption and loss the dead walk with us, their presence felt as the story unfurls in unexpected ways. Kirton does not offer false hope, nor does she push us towards answers we are not yet ready for. Instead, she gestures towards the many healing modalities she has explored as she discovers that the path to reconciliation is not only a long and winding road, but also that it begins with those closest to us.