
in Mamou's arms
song-dialogue between my mother tongue and the land on which I live
"And my eye fascinated
your millennial beauty
I hung my feet
in your wide open arms"
"Your skin four seasons
of unceded land
with your permission
I will walk there barefoot"

lyrics

*In Mamou's arms
The bed of your rivers
A stone around my neck
And my mother tongue
I carry many accents
In my dandelion mouth
And sow to the four winds
stories and songs
From the four corners of the world
From the city or the fields
I have a wandering soul
And my heart is a kite
Exile myself for love
Adventure or error
Committed or unexpected
Escape the echo of rumors
I came for two days
Thirty years ago
Made a thousand and one detours
*to your Soleil Levant
And my eyes fascinated
Your millennial beauty
I hung my feet
In your wide open arms
And your wild smell
your drag queen look
You don't look your age
*Oh my legs are dancing
Your four season's skin
Of unceded land
With your permission
I'll walk here barefoot
Our hearts beating
Our hands spinning and dancing
In the hollow of your valley
A rain of seeds
Your throat that resonates
In the echo of the drums
our bodies that shivers
And trembling of love
And my wandering hands
on your watershed
Thy Not-Rocky Mountains
Where will our children be born
We will mix roots
*In the soil of the Phare Ouest
It's life taking shape
The feather that crosses It
And your Water People
It will be their turn
To heal all their ills
And receive words of love
Deep down we're the same
Strong and frail at the same time
Very much alive and plural
And we won't die
In Mamou's arms
The bed of your rivers
Children around my neck
And my mother's tongue
* Mamou is an elder in the francophone community
* Soleil Levant aka The French Bakery
* Les Dancing Legs : is a francophone drag queen collective
* Phare Ouest : CBC radio show
collaborating artists

Mamou
francophone elder

Alex Pilon aka Johnny Poutina
member of The Dancing Legs