Poem Post: "Pahkwêsikan" by Samantha Nock
Oct. 21st, 2023 01:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
radiantfractureAs requested by sabotabby ! "Pahkwêsikan" means "bannock" in Plains Cree.
Pahkwêsikan
Samantha Nock
“aunty, what do I do
when he doesn’t love me back?”
“add butter to flour, sammy”
“aunty, how do i
crawl inside
your ribcage?”
“add milk slowly”
“aunty, he left me for a white girl.”
“remember to always add a pinch of sugar”
“aunty, what do I do
When moving on feels like regret?”
“mix the batter with your hands until it feels
like sand sliding through your fingers”
“aunty, why wasn’t his love
a revolution?”
“remember to never over-knead your dough”
“aunty, how do I find myself?”
“if you over-knead your dough, sammy, it will
get tough”
“aunty, I am scared of being over-kneaded”
“heat oil slowly, baby girl”
“aunty, why are these memories lingering in my
bedroom?”
“if you heat the oil too fast, sammy, it will
smoke. You can’t use oil if it starts to smoke”
“aunty, i’m being haunted”
“we cut the dough like this so it cooks evenly”
“aunty, what is decolonization?”
“fry till light brown”
“aunty, how do i say no?”
“serve warm”
“aunty, i love you”
“with butter or lard and honey”
“aunty, how do frogs survive the winter?”
sabotabby ! "Pahkwêsikan" means "bannock" in Plains Cree.Pahkwêsikan
Samantha Nock
“aunty, what do I do
when he doesn’t love me back?”
“add butter to flour, sammy”
“aunty, how do i
crawl inside
your ribcage?”
“add milk slowly”
“aunty, he left me for a white girl.”
“remember to always add a pinch of sugar”
“aunty, what do I do
When moving on feels like regret?”
“mix the batter with your hands until it feels
like sand sliding through your fingers”
“aunty, why wasn’t his love
a revolution?”
“remember to never over-knead your dough”
“aunty, how do I find myself?”
“if you over-knead your dough, sammy, it will
get tough”
“aunty, I am scared of being over-kneaded”
“heat oil slowly, baby girl”
“aunty, why are these memories lingering in my
bedroom?”
“if you heat the oil too fast, sammy, it will
smoke. You can’t use oil if it starts to smoke”
“aunty, i’m being haunted”
“we cut the dough like this so it cooks evenly”
“aunty, what is decolonization?”
“fry till light brown”
“aunty, how do i say no?”
“serve warm”
“aunty, i love you”
“with butter or lard and honey”
“aunty, how do frogs survive the winter?”
no subject
Date: 2023-10-21 09:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-10-22 04:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-10-22 10:55 am (UTC)The activity is structured around "No Thrills and Bougie Bannock" by Sarena Johnson. I'm going to give them one or more bannock recipes (depending on the size of the class) that are annotated with which Nation/family/person they come from, changes made, etc. (I have a few that will work). Then they're going to make the bannock while discussing why you would annotate or include citations in a recipe.
Then they're going to read the essay and do a bit of research around a particular theme (history and cultural impact of bannock, food precarity in Toronto, the role of food in their own family/cultural background) and either write a poem about it, write a brief composition on it, or create their own annotated recipe. So this is a perfect exemplar to show them.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-22 05:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-10-22 08:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-10-24 04:08 am (UTC)I am so into all this stuff you're doing about Indigenzing the concept of citation. It's really inspiring.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-24 10:35 am (UTC)Here is one (with an example of citations):
Ojibwa Bannock
Contributor : Added by Administrator [My note: I think the website is now defunct—at least, Google sucks enough that I can't search up who it is]
Tribal Affiliation : Lac Seul Band in Ontario, Canada but I live in Bear, Delaware USA
Origin of Recipe : Offered by Judith (Keesic) Martin... who learned this from My Gookum and mother
Ingredients
1 tsp. salt
4 Tbs. fat (animal lard or shortening)
4 Tbs. baking powder
4 cups flour
2 cups water
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a 9x12 (rectangle) cake pan
Stir flour, baking powder, and salt together thoroughly.
Cut in (room temperature) fat to flour mixture until pea sized lumps are formed in flour. Make a "lake" in the flour and pour water in your "lake." Mix gently with fork until a nice and sticky dough is formed. Place in greased pan. Pat down with hands softly.
bake in oven for about an hour and a half or until cooked in middle. A nice golden brown color should be on top.
Important!! place out of pan on towel, leaned up on its side against a pot to cool. (Gookums instructions!)
Break pieces off with hands and eat with butter, lard, or margarine.
Note: My family loves this bread. My auntie Keesic makes it with raisins or dried blueberries stirred into mixture before baking. A very traditional recipe for northwoods natives who use cook out-of-doors a lot. They would use a frypan on the fire and flip the bread to cook both sides. My Father who is 100 percent Ojibwa loves to eat bannock sandwiches with a slice of lard and sweet onion.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-22 01:57 am (UTC)Samantha Nock
Thank you; I'd never read this.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-22 04:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-10-22 05:01 am (UTC)That's okay. They're your experiences.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-22 10:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-10-22 02:42 pm (UTC)I will have to go look for more from Samantha Nock. Thank you so much for sharing.
ETA: Ordered her anthology
no subject
Date: 2023-10-22 05:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-10-22 08:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-10-24 04:10 am (UTC)