frozen breath and knife bladesKateri Akiwenzie-Damm

Monique and Cassandra

Is Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm anishinaabe?

Did Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm go to residential school?

Is Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm still alive?

Is writing poetry the only career Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm has?

Was Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm raised on a reserve?

• She uses the people in her life that surround her as inspiration to write her poems

• Writing poetry is a spiritual experience for her. It helps her connect with the world around her

• Lots of her writing is passionate about indigenous peoples all over the world

frozen breath and knife blades

the village is asleep

there are strangers living with usthere are strangers drifting in and out of the dull edges of my sight

and the village is asleep

there is a man who stares and calls me sisteras if he was born to do so

he walks among us and the people fall silent around him it’s as if they cant remember their names in the face of his

strange wordshis eyes are knife blades

and i cant tell if it is love or hate he carves into mebut i know he is cutting through us

this man we call Father is watchingI feel his eyes cutting into me

and the village is asleep

the man he brought with himis like the frozen breath of his words

sometimes i glimpse himbut he vanishes

like a strange spiritwho has wandered far from home

the village is still sleeping

and i wonder who will be tangles in the webof my dreaming

when i wake

Frozen breath and knife blades is about someone who is going through the experience of a residential school and being influenced by many factors of the catholic religion.

• Contemporary poem• Free verse poem

the village is asleep

there are strangers living with us

there are strangers drifting in and out of the dull edges of my sight

and the village is asleep

there is a man who stares and calls me sister

as if he was born to do so

he walks among us and the people fall silent around him

it’s as if they cant remember their names in the face of his

Anaphora- repeating the same phrase throughout the poem

Repetition

• Enjambment- run on lines• Imagery- creates a picture

Apostrophe- addressing an absent person as if he or she were present

strange words

his eyes are knife blades

and i cant tell if it is love or hate he carves into me

but i know he is cutting through us

this man we call Father is watching to emphasize the main

theme and centre of the poem

I feel his eyes cutting into me

• Enjambent• Prolepses- anticipation• Tone- poets attitude towards the

poems subject• imagery

Repetition

and the village is asleep

the man he brought with him

is like the frozen breath of his words

sometimes i glimpse him

but he vanishes

like a strange spirit

who has wandered far from home

• Enjambent• Tone

the village is still sleeping

and i wonder who will be tangled in the web

of my dreaming

when i wake

atmosphere

1. Why does Kateri decide not to use punctuation?

2. Why did Kateri choose to only capitalize the words "Father" and "I"?

3. Why is the poem formatted like the way it is?

4. Why is anaphora used in this poem?

5. Why does Kateri use Apostrophes?