news | Friday May 6, 2022
New from Jónína Kirton comes Standing In a River of Time. Part poetry collection part memoir, Standing In a River of Time chronicles the effects of colonization on a Métis family, the violence of patriarchy on the narrator and the women of her family, and the inextricable link between the two.
From “Erasure”:
“my great-great-great grandfather’s
census records go from
Native, Catholic, 1 married man”
to ‘Catholic, 1 married man’
his Métis wife unnamed”
Kirton intercuts sections of prose and lyric poetry to create the effect of watching, then reflecting on, a moment from the speaker’s past. From “Beside a Well: Walking with Women”:
“I had watched my mother wait on my father, ironing his clothes, warming the car up for him, making sure dinner was on the table at the time he designated. I did not see these things as acts of love, but rather as subservience, and I was allergic to subservience.”
A resolute exploration of intersectionality, Standing In a River of Time examines what can and cannot be effaced; which forces of history linger. Spirited, vulnerable, and achingly tender, Kirton journeys through memory to illuminate the many ways one can scrap, barrier by barrier, towards the ever-moving goalpost of healing.
We are so excited for you to wade into Jónína Kirton’s Standing In a River of Time. Pick up your copy here.