<p>\u201cCanada rejected our applications for enrolment in the Qalipu First Nation. Initially, I was relieved by the rejection. I\u2019d watched my hometown divide itself \u2014 are you Mi\u2032kmaq or settler? Mi\u2032kmaq or not Mi\u2032kmaq enough?\u201d <\/p><p>Centred around the Newfoundland Mi’kmaq experience in the wake of the controversial Qalipu First Nation enrolment process, <i>Island<\/i> wades through the fracture and mistrust that continues to linger in many communities. In this new collection, Douglas Walbourne-Gough expands upon issues of identity and history that he introduced in <i>Crow Gulch<\/i>, offering a deeply personal and equally beautiful exploration of Mi’kmaw and Newfoundland identity. <\/p><p>Walbourne-Gough\u2019s narrative poems trace the formation of identity, not through status documentation, but through its deeper roots in childhood memories, family, spirituality, and dreams. Throughout this collection, he approaches life in fragments \u2014 snuggling into his nan\u2019s sealskin snowsuit, learning Mi’kmaq from an app, or the myriad of complex emotions that come with receiving a status card \u2014 and watches them transform into pieces of an everlasting puzzle. <i>Island<\/i> reckons with an often-ignored, yet persistent, effect of colonialism \u2014 fractured identities. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
<p>\u201cCanada rejected our applications for enrolment in the Qalipu First Nation. Initially, I was relieved by the rejection. I\u2019d watched my hometown divide itself \u2014 are you Mi\u2032kmaq or settler? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":110650,"template":"","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[10712,24685],"product_tag":[],"class_list":["post-109841","product","type-product","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","product_language-eng","product_subjects-poetry","product_subjects-indigenous-peoples-of-turtle-island-poetry","biblio_share_tag-poetry-indigenous-peoples-of-turtle-island","product_cat-abc","product_cat-fall-books-abt-100","entry","first","instock","taxable","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"yoast_head":"\n