10 Stone

Author: J.R. Carpenter

Publisher: Cutt Press (2024)

“This writing is based on a durational performance project undertaken in Treaty 6 Territory in 2020. the prompt was informed by a workshop with Marilyn Arsem: go to the river. collect one stone. ask: why this stone. answer in writing. repeat for 10 days. the river in question is kisiskâciwani-sîpiy, which still has my heart. thanks to the friends who walked with me during this time, who appear in this writing: Darren Hagen, Elisabeth Belliveau, Marilene J. Oliver. and thanks to old woman bear who later told me that taking a stone requires leaving an offering. I asked if a poem was an offering. she said yes, but added that the land was now addicted to tobacco, so left that too. and returned all the stones to the river except this one piece of chert. to remind me. of so many things. there are blank pages at the back of this chapbook for notes. and the cover is slight water-proof. take it out for a walk with you. try it. ask yourself. why this stone?”