Two-Eyed Seeing from the perspective of a Cree mother and RCMP Officer

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Two-Eyed Seeing from the perspective of a Cree mother and RCMP Officer

The granddaughter of famous First Nations activist Dorothy Maquabeak Francis reflects on intergenerational trauma, racism in policing, and relationship-building. It’s 35 below freezing in Edmonton, as a 27-year-old RCMP officer and Cree woman sits with her face pressed to the chilled window glass of her patrol car. Above her, ribbons of jade light— the Aurora Borealis—move like silk across the obsidian night sky.

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manchester by Tasheal Gill

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manchester by Tasheal Gill

i saw manchester when i closed my eyes: velvet sofas, drowning bluffs, a sunset clouded by emotions.

i’m no stranger to stumbling down unfamiliar streets and daydreaming at midnight. it’s become a haven.

at 16, i was all knowing, no worship.

i studied god at the bottom of my glass and said my prayers between each panting breath. maybe i look back too often, i’m not sure.

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Video Evidence of a First Love by Hailey Rollheiser

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Video Evidence of a First Love by Hailey Rollheiser

Flipping through my old Blackberry photos from 2011, the one from high school, I found photos of at-home dye jobs that left the blondes—myself included—brassy, the brunettes closer to red. I smiled at how young we looked, frolicking in the freedom from ourselves that we found in plastic bottles of Smirnoff vodka. With alcohol we acted older than we were, escaping our teenage selves and emerging fearless. Later, we hid behind it: I didn’t mean it, I was just drunk. Our eyeshadow unblended, our foundation a tone off our skin colour, our crop tops and skirts hardly covering our bodies. We were gloriously unburdened.

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"Morning Shift" by Taylor Neal

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"Morning Shift" by Taylor Neal

Taylor Neal’s interpretation of their experiences rising for early morning shifts as they work as a support worker in the DTES. They would rise each morning to find the moon protecting them, and they would have these tender, quiet mornings alone before anyone else was awake, which allowed them to move into their day in a peaceful, protected state of calm.

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"Eels" by David Ly

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Illustration by Allison Eng.

Illustration by Allison Eng.

David Ly - Eels.png

David Ly is the author of Mythical Man, which was shortlisted for the 2021 ReLit Poetry Award. His sophomore poetry collection, Dream of Me as Water, is forthcoming in 2022. David is the Poetry Editor at This Magazine, part of the Anstruther Press Editorial Collective, and a Poetry Manuscript Consultant with The Writers’ Studio at SFU. You can find him on Twitter and Instagram.