Description
Kalli Van Stone, or Spyu7, is syilx and Secwepemc from the north end of Okanagan Lake. She loves dance, singing, writing songs and poems, and revitalizing syilx and Secwepemc language and culture. Her writing expresses personal and familial story, putting words to the heavy truths, feelings and the experience of trying to take care of oneself through the ways of her ancestors. She lives near Kelowna, BC.
Interdisciplinary artist Kalli Van Stone embraces syilx and Secwepemc language in these sparse yet potent poems. welík’t—which means “sparkle” in the secwepemctsín language—captures the story, song and dance which help heal the ongoing intergenerational impacts of colonialism and the residential school, day school and current education systems.
The structure of Interior Salish music and its healing powers are alive in many of Van Stone’s poems. The collection itself is framed in three sections for each language—nsyilxcn, secwepemctsín and English—and translations accompany each piece.
With the poet’s artwork interspersed throughout the pages, welík’t is a rich celebration of creativity and coalescence.