What do you think of me, Dad,

writing this in Cree?

Could there have been more room

for a Cree conversation,

for a Cree understanding,

for a daughter’s understanding

her father’s honour

in the space between, tawyihk,

your childhood and your passing.

Is it enough that I’ve

cleared a space on my desk

to light this candle for you?

Would that I could

have made more room.

nipakosyimon kahk-tawinamtn.

Through poems that move between the two languages, McIlwraith explores the beauty of the intersection between nhiyawwin, the Plains Cree language, and English, kaysmowin. Written to honour her father’s facility in nhiyawwin and her mother’s beauty and generosity as an inheritor of Cree, Ojibwe, Scottish, and English, kiym articulates a powerful yearning for family, history, peace, and love.