(for michelle sylliboy)
wood element green
and young yang
turns the cycle pushing wood through water
dook chung! (rattle rattle rattle)
dook dook dookdook chung!
time
latitude north
longitude west
winds, weather and remarkst. hudson’s receipt for two hundred and three sea-otter skins
a boat then iphigenia nubiana
200 tons burthen
self-sacrificing daughter who dies for father and country
which?it’s 1788 virginal
iphigenia crosses waterunder command
of mr. douglas “officer of considerable merit, who was well acquainted with
the coast of America” meaning Canada-to-come
our home on native landhere comes another
metal element copper bottomed
felice, ever faithfulto cross the northern pacific
sailing the long arc of the sandwich islands
from wampoa to nootka sound
captain john meares at the helm
and passengers tianna prince of atooi
winee of hawaii
a boy and a man from maui
and comekela, a nuu-chah-nulth man
ghosting back
multi-criticaland what? a chinese crew?! for both ships?
partially—
“The Chinese were, on this occasion, shipped as an experiment : — they have been
generally esteemed an hardy, and industrious , as well as ingenious race of people;
they live on fish and rice, and, requiring but low wages, it was a matter also of
œconomical consideration….”o economical
an ode owed
old owl says it was all about the otter
sea otters in water
pots and kettles for pelts
metal melts or oxidizes into airup and down the coast meares and douglas trading
ditidaht
coast salish
nuu-chah-nulth
kwakwaka’wakw
heiltsuk
tsimshian
haida
lingit
pot for pelts
markets for canton system
British East India Company vs. Cohong
with Hoppo to collect taxes for Qing Emperor
and the Thirteen Factories where it all went down
pelts for porcelain and tea for two
the global snowball
already gathering steamthis is the house that meares built
or rather his chinese carpenters
the wood of our rather not
this is the cannon emplacement
built by chinese smiths
and for the water–
a schooner: the north west americathis is the house that douglas tore down
dishonouring the promise
meares made to nuu-chah-nulth
who built? whose wood?
who forged? whose metal?
and later, who destroyed?
whose axe?
whose hammer?i’ve been working on the railway
all the live long daysing a song for the wood and metal men
who crossed the water east to get west
to make the world go the other way roundtrade roots
contact of our always already
between the lines of which
we might have become familybritain vs america vs spain
spill crisis at nootka
strain for colonial sovereignity
when martínez beat out meares, douglas, kendrick, funter
where did the chinese smiths and carpenters go?
to san blas as captured crew?
to china?
to death?
or into hiding
among coast salish
kwakwaka’wakh
nuu-chal-nulth
stó:lō
secwepemcthe qing once self-sufficient
giving trade itself as gift
undone by opiumiphigenia smoked by the treaty of nanjing
my home on ceded land
recolonized by the master of all trades
tradewater nurtures wood
iphigenia crosses east to get west
unceded columbia
calls in the ghostscallicum
maquinna
wicananish
hanna
detootche
comekela
acchon achingaching for earth’s return
- 115: SPACE
with A Sometimes
114: NO THEME 13
with J Toledo & C Tse
113: INVISIBLE WALLS
with A Walker & D Disney
112: TREAT
with T Dearborn
111: BABY
with S Deo & L Ferney
110: POP!
with Z Frost & B Jessen
109: NO THEME 12
with C Maling & N Rhook
108: DEDICATION
with L Patterson & L Garcia-Dolnik
107: LIMINAL
with B Li
106: OPEN
with C Lowe & J Langdon
105: NO THEME 11
with E Grills & E Stewart
104: KIN
with E Shiosaki
103: AMBLE
with E Gomez and S Gory
102: GAME
with R Green and J Maxwell
101: NO THEME 10
with J Kinsella and J Leanne
100: BROWNFACE
with W S Dunn
99: SINGAPORE
with J Ip and A Pang
97 & 98: PROPAGANDA
with M Breeze and S Groth
96: NO THEME IX
with M Gill and J Thayil
95: EARTH
with M Takolander
94: BAYT
with Z Hashem Beck
93: PEACH
with L Van, G Mouratidis, L Toong
92: NO THEME VIII
with C Gaskin
91: MONSTER
with N Curnow
90: AFRICAN DIASPORA
with S Umar
89: DOMESTIC
with N Harkin
88: TRANSQUEER
with S Barnes and Q Eades
87: DIFFICULT
with O Schwartz & H Isemonger
86: NO THEME VII
with L Gorton
85: PHILIPPINES
with Mookie L and S Lua
84: SUBURBIA
with L Brown and N O'Reilly
83: MATHEMATICS
with F Hile
82: LAND
with J Stuart and J Gibian
81: NEW CARIBBEAN
with V Lucien
80: NO THEME VI
with J Beveridge
57.1: EKPHRASTIC
with C Atherton and P Hetherington
57: CONFESSION
with K Glastonbury
56: EXPLODE
with D Disney
55.1: DALIT / INDIGENOUS
with M Chakraborty and K MacCarter
55: FUTURE MACHINES
with Bella Li
54: NO THEME V
with F Wright and O Sakr
53.0: THE END
with P Brown
52.0: TOIL
with C Jenkins
51.1: UMAMI
with L Davies and Lifted Brow
51.0: TRANSTASMAN
with B Cassidy
50.0: NO THEME IV
with J Tranter
49.1: A BRITISH / IRISH
with M Hall and S Seita
49.0: OBSOLETE
with T Ryan
48.1: CANADA
with K MacCarter and S Rhodes
48.0: CONSTRAINT
with C Wakeling
47.0: COLLABORATION
with L Armand and H Lambert
46.1: MELBOURNE
with M Farrell
46.0: NO THEME III
with F Plunkett
45.0: SILENCE
with J Owen
44.0: GONDWANALAND
with D Motion
43.1: PUMPKIN
with K MacCarter
43.0: MASQUE
with A Vickery
42.0: NO THEME II
with G Ryan
41.1: RATBAGGERY
with D Hose
41.0: TRANSPACIFIC
with J Rowe and M Nardone
40.1: INDONESIA
with K MacCarter
40.0: INTERLOCUTOR
with L Hart
39.1: GIBBERBIRD
with S Gory
39.0: JACKPOT!
with S Wagan Watson
38.0: SYDNEY
with A Lorange
37.1: NEBRASKA
with S Whalen
37.0: NO THEME!
with A Wearne
36.0: ELECTRONICA
with J Jones