Burning in This Midnight Dream

Publisher's description (Coteau Books, 2016): 
Burning in the Midnight Dream is the latest collection of poems by Louise Bernice Halfe. Many were written in response to the grim tide of emotions, memories, dreams and nightmares that arose in her as the Truth and Reconciliation process unfolded.

In heart-wrenching detail, Halfe recalls the damage done to her parents, her family, herself. With fearlessly wrought verse, Halfe describes how the experience of the residential schools continues to haunt those who survive, and how the effects pass like a virus from one generation to the next. She asks us to consider the damage done to children taken from their families, to families mourning their children; damage done to entire communities and to ancient cultures.

Halfe's poetic voice soars in this incredibly moving collection as she digs deep to discover the root of her pain. Her images, created from the natural world, reveal the spiritual strength of her culture Louise Bernice Halfe is Cree.

Author's Biography (Strong Nations): 
Sky Dancer Louise Bernice Halfe is nêhiyaw poet raised on the Saddle Lake Reserve in Alberta. She has travelled extensively nationally and internationally both as a poet and keynote speaker. She served as poet Laureate in Saskatchewan for two years and was given an honorary Ph.D. from Wilfrid Laurier University. In 2017 Halfe was awarded the Latner's Writers' Trust Poetry Prize for an exceptional body of work in the field of poetry.

Resource format: Poetry

Age recommendation: Grades 10 - 12, University

Keywords: poetry, Truth and Reconciliation, dreams, nightmares, trauma, alcoholism, Residential School, Cree, Treaty 6, intergenerational trauma, mourning, grief, ancestors, pain, strength, resilience, Residential School System, nehiyaw, Saddle Lake Cree Nation, Plains Cree, abuse, survivors, storytelling, colonization, colonialism, listening, witnessing, speech, silence, Indigenous language, Cree language, multilingual

Year of publication: 2016

Publisher information: Coteau Books