Captivating and deeply moving, this story basket of memories tells one Indigenous woman’s journey of overcoming adversity and colonial trauma to find strength through creative works and traditional perspectives of healing, transformation, and resurgence.

If the hurt and grief we carry is a woven blanket, it is time to weave ourselves anew.

In the Nłeʔkepmxcín language, spíləx̣m are remembered stories, often shared over tea in the quiet hours between Elders. Rooted within the British Columbia landscape, and with an almost tactile representation of being on the land and water, Spíləx̣m explores resilience, reconnection, and narrative memory through stories.

Captivating and deeply moving, this story basket of memories tells one Indigenous woman’s journey of overcoming adversity and colonial trauma to find strength through creative works and traditional perspectives of healing, transformation, and resurgence.

Table of Contents

Prairie Letters

• February 4, 1973
• April 5, 1973
• July 1, 1973
• July 26, 1973

Her Blood Is From Sptétkw

• sptétkw
• fried bologna and rice
• yellow house
• Speed Sew
• hamburger stew
• lullabies
• buckle-up shoes
• Little People
• c̓əlc̓ále
• alpine mountains
• frog whisperers
• cousin cluster

Métis

• Saskatchewan
• La Ronge
• Mooshoom
• Back to Batoche, 1985

Nłeʔkepmxcín Lullaby

• skíxzeʔ transforms
• Cəceʔ and Sínciʔ
• Rockstar Hair
• K̓éceʔ Tea
• University of British Columbia
• Blackout
• for the party
• Tmíxw—This Land
• Grandpa’s Corrals
• Learning to Heal
• i am sorry
• it is okay.
• the same as trees

Land Teachings

• Métis
• Beginnings
• Prayer Warriors
• gathering
• gathering songs
• sn’ix’wam

Coming to My Senses

• The land, we are woven together like strands of light
• tmíxw. temexw. temxulaxw.
• Porcupine Song
• snow on the mountains
• Salish Dancer
• The Kingfisher’s Dance
• race day
• quw’utsun

sorrow

• September 16, 1998, 10:15 pm
• deer stew
• i dreamt of you last night
• tracks
• little brown
• September 24, 1998
• October 1, 1999, 10:15 pm
• With Each Stroke of My Paddle

yémit and merímstn

• Teapot Hill
• this trail
• unceded
• Huckleberries Are My Weakness
• medicine song
• pressure canner rhythms
• sx̣wúsm
• Spring Chicken
• going home
• come inside
• wildflowers
• nkéxw
• tmíxw
• A Gathering of Stones
• the riverbed is home

this body is a mountain, this body is the land

• as sisters
• Scw̓éxmx
• May 20, 2000
• Adanac Trail

Resurgence

• The Trail
• Stories Are Alive
• Why Am I Writing This?
• Run
• I Believe in the Power of Prayer
• We Are Their Prayers Come to Life
• Reweave the Universe
• Offering

Acknowledgements

Glossary

Index