Walter Hildebrandt

Historian and poet Walter Hildebrandt was born in Brooks, Alberta and now lives in Edmonton. He was the Director of University of Calgary Press and Athabasca University Press. He has worked as a historian for Parks Canada and as a consultant to the Treaty 7 Tribal Council, the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations and the Banff Bow Valley Task Force. He was awarded the Gustavus Meyers Award 1997, for outstanding work on human rights in North America, for his book The Spirit and Intent of Treaty 7. His long poem Sightings was nominated for the McNally-Robinson Book of the Year in Manitoba in 1992. A previous volume of poetry, Where the Land Gets Broken, received the Stephan G. Stephanson for best poetry book in Alberta in 2005. This is his tenth book of poetry.

(We have not attempted to reproduce the layout of the printed version of these poems on this page. See Blackfoot Country for the proper spacing of the words on the page.)

where the weather
comes from

where the land
gets broken

nunatak
standing above the ice

veins
seams
layers
going back
eons

glaciers
encircling
exposed

conglomerate peaks

rolling hills
arching
slopes
stretching

up into valleys

into mountains

ochre
paint
medicine
sacred

plants
dyes perfumes oils medicines

berries
inner bark in springtime

medicine men and women
spiritualists
sweetgrass
tobacco
dried blackberry
red widow bark
sweat lodges
dot the hills
purification
great stones
absorb heat
fire fed
rocks
give off steam
from water poured
onto them
sweating
herbalists
asked for strength
relief
from
sickness
troubles
treat ailments
earth’s minerals
relieve
nausea
diarrhea
counter poisons
herbal plasters
treat injured
dogs and horses

fresh dried
roots
leaves
bark
twigs
flowers
seeds

From Blackfoot Country
by Walter Hildebrandt
© 2017 Walter Hildebrandt
Published by Ekstasis Editions