Spruce to Cedar

Gently disarming poems that explore healing despite the limitations of living in a colonial society.

Set in the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Vancouver, Las nmą's debut poetry collection takes the reader from her childhood into adulthood by sharing both warm and harrowing memories as they shaped her. The poems follow a young woman discovering the healing of being alone and of finding identity through culture as well as in isolation. Using English, Southern Tutchone, and Dene, the fragile but courageous speaker yearns for the comforts of childhood, yet at the same time looks squarely both at the difficulties of the past and the possibilities of the future. Unashamed, she bares it all.