Gregory Scofield is a Métis poet, non-fiction writer, activist, teacher and community worker whose maternal ancestry can be traced back five generations to the Red River Settlement and to Kinesota, Manitoba. His paternal ancestry is Polish/Jewish and German. He has published five highly praised books of poetry and received such awards as the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize; The Canadian Author’s Association Most Promising Young Writer Award; and the Confederation of Poets Prize.

Selected Publications:

Singing Home the Bones (Raincoast Books,
   Vancouver, 2005)
Native Canadiana: Songs from the urban rez
   (Polestar, Vancouver, 2000)
Love Medicine and One Song (Polestar,
   Vancouver, 2000)
I Knew Two Metis Women (Polestar, Vancouver, 2000)
Thunder Through My Veins: Memories of a Metis Childhood (HarperCollins, 1999)

Prayer Song for the Returning of Names and Sons

I’ve thrown back
your names;

nâmoya kîyawaw                                          you are not
Charlotte, Sarah, Mary

ekwa Christiana                                             and
nâmoya kîyawaw môniyaskwewak.                        you are not white women

â-haw, ni-châpanak                                      an invocation, my ancestor grandmothers
kayâs ochi nikâwîmahk                               my mothers of long ago

nâtohta listen
my song, nikamowin                                     the song

this prayer song
I am singing.