Baamaapii (See You Again)
Earlier this year I had the absolute privilege of having my poem selected for Picnic On Poetry in “Canada’s Poemtown” - Cobourg, Ontario. As you all know, I’m a huge supporter of art in public spaces and try to participate when I’m able.
This endeavor was made possible from POETCHRY - a non-profit organization dedicated to utilizing laser technology to etch the poetic arts onto assorted surfaces in the public domain. This includes municipal picnic tables that grace our parks. The tables can be found in Victoria Park by the beach in Cobourg. Grab a friend and a coffee and read these wonderful words from poets around Northumberland and Canada.
My poem was included on ‘A POEM OF ONE’S OWN, The Voice of Women in Poetry, which was curated by Kate Hoogendam (MERKAT). This table bears nine outstanding poems composed by women regionally.’ You need to read all of these poems as they are sublime. Especially MERKAT’s poem - she had me sobbing in public.
This was a meaningful project for me. If you follow my newsletter you’ll know that I regularly share some of my Anishinaabe culture with you. Did you know that we don’t have a word for ‘good-bye’? We say Baamaapii which means, see you again or see you later—because we believe that there is no finality in relationships. When we discuss our departed we say their name with ‘baa’ attached and I find this beautiful in our language. It’s an elegant way of saying that person is now in the Spirit World, which for the newly grieved, saves a lot of anguish and awkwardness. We also don’t want to call Spirit back to this world so adding the ‘baa’ leaves them in peace (for example, my sister would be referred to as Tiffany-Baa).
And so, I wanted to write a poem for all of my people that are no longer in this world, and to honour the relationships I have with them. And also to honour the family I have remaining. We always, always, always say I love you when we leave each other’s company. Always. It is the last words we say and hear.
This poem is also special as it’s the first time I’ve published under my Traditional, or Spirit name. It felt right and I will continue to use my Spirit name, Yellow Butterfly Woman, in the art sphere. You may notice from my online posts that I spell butterfly two different ways memengwe/memengwaa. Both are correct in Anishinaabemowin as there are many regional spellings and pronunciations. Going forth, I will spell it as memengwaa which seems to be more common in my Ojibwe culture and was the way it was given to me by our Traditional Healer. I’m not a language speaker but I’m learning.
One side note: There was an issue with the typesetting on my poem which you can read about here from the always eloquent and genuine, MERKAT (Katie Hoogendam). These things happen and I have absolutely no ill feelings about it - I’m truly honoured to be included amongst these brilliant authors’. I would like to thank the entire POETCHRY team for their heartfelt apologies, solutions and for the massive undertaking this project would have been.
With that said, I hope you enjoy my poem.
Chi-miigwech to MERKAT for creating this visual image of my poem.