water water everywhere

Today I floated in the water at Cape Croker Reserve; the water is part of one of the Great Lakes. It was warmer than I'd expected and clear, and being lake water there was no salt. I lay there in the water, and looked around me.

On two kayaks Daniel and Kateri were paddling and talking about Indigenous publishing and writing, and on the beach at the side of the lake Kent played with Kateri's adorable almost-3-year-old Kegedonce who is known as Kegsy. We were based at Kateri's Mum's cabin; we had had a tour of the Rez and stopped for icecreams on the way, and later in the afternoon we would return to Kateri's own place for kai. As I floated around on my back I could see trees in both directions along the side of the small sheltered bay and had the strong sense I've had a few times when I find myself in land which has enjoyed longstanding connection with its own people.

Cape Croker Reserve is a place with which I am familiar because of the books published there by Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm (yep, the same Kateri who was padding a kayak and whose son was hanging out on the beach) which I have read in Ithaca and Wellington and taught at my classes at Vic. Kateri's publishing house, Kegedonce Press, which she runs with Renee who also joined us for dinner this evening, is based at Cape Croker and through the press she has put anthologies and single-author texts in the hands of people around the world.

Indigenous writers and Indigenous writing have relied for a long time on 'mainstream' publishers but the work of Indigenous publishers and creative organisations has created space for a wider, more diverse, deeper range of voices to get into print. It was a privilege to meet Kateri and Kegsy today but also a gift to get to have my first swim in Canada right there in the lake.

Here I was, floating in a lake at Cape Croker... floating in the water... Water is connective, refreshing, nourishing, moody and - sometimes - dangerous. Kind of like literature.