Louis

Few figures in Canadian history have attained such an iconic status as Louis Riel. Celebrated Metis poet Gregory Scofield takes a fresh look at Riel in his new collection, Louis: The Heretic Poems, challenging traditional conceptions of Riel as simply a folk hero and martyr. By juxtaposing historical events and quotes with the poetic narrative, Scofield draws attention to the side of the Metis leader that most Canadians have never contemplated: that of husband, father, friend and lover, poet and visionary.Scofield also uses the collection to raise attention about the more crucial historical events of Riel’s lifetime–such as the Manitoba Resistance and the Northwest Resistance at Batoche–in order to illuminate the history of western Canadian Metis people and their struggles toward recognition. Scofield also examines Riel’s own poetry, most of which was devoted to exploring religious themes. Accordingly, religious imagery features strongly in the collection, complemented by a poetic voice that is rhythmic, repetitious, and lush with potent symbolism and simple, powerful images.

AUTHOR

Gregory Scofield

Gregory Scofield is Red River Metis of Cree, Scottish and European descent whose ancestry can be traced to the fur trade and to the Metis community of Kinesota, Manitoba. He has taught First Nations and Metis Literature and Creative Writing at Brandon University, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, and the Alberta College of Art + Design. He currently holds the position of Assistant Professor in English at Laurentian University where he teaches Creative Writing, and previously served as writer-in-residence at the University of Manitoba, University of Winnipeg and Memorial University.

Scofield won the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize in 1994 for his debut collection, The Gathering: Stones for the Medicine Wheel. In addition to several volumes of poetry, Scofield is the author of the memoir, Thunder Through My Veins (1999), and his latest collection of poetry is Witness, I Am (2016). In 2016, The Writers’ Trust of Canada awarded Scofield with the Latner Writers’ Trust Poetry Prize.

Reviews

Scofield marries political wordplay (“give to the poor, namely to those / who are prone to drafting up / a weakened constitution”) with elegant imagery (“the rifles will be raised and / he will disappear like oranges / on Christmas morning”). Scofield’s Riel views “the prairie as a sonnet” and seems aware of how despite attempts to write his own destiny, his fate will be written by others: “I am a poet / With auburn-brown hair, // An ember of curls / The newspapers will one day // Catch…” A stellar collection, hypnotic and incantatory.–Jonathan Ball, Winnipeg Free Press