Prairie Ritual by Conor Kerr

Conor Kerr has made the2021 CBC PoetryPrize longlistfor Prairie Ritual.

• 31writers make the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize longlist

The winner of the 2021CBC PoetryPrizewill receive $6,000 from theCanada Council for the Arts, have their work published onCBC Booksand have the opportunity to attend a two-week writing residency at theBanff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from theCanada Council for the Artsand have their work published onCBC Books.

The shortlist will be announced on Nov. 18and the winner will be announced on Nov. 24.

If you're interested in the CBC Literary Prizes, theCBC Nonfiction Prizeopens in January and theCBC PoetryPrizeopens in April.

About Conor Kerr

Conor Kerr is a Mtis and Ukrainian educator, writer and harvester. He is a member of the Mtis Nation of Alberta and is descended from the Gladue, Ginther and Quinn families from the Lac Ste. Anne and Fort Des Prairies Mtis communities and the Papaschase Cree Nation. Kerr is a harvesterand labrador retriever enthusiast.

Entry in five-ish words

"Replacing Christianity with true gods."

The poem's source of inspiration

"For this series of poems, [my inspirations were] birds, bros and grannies. The way that cedar waxwings storm in for fermented berries and the movement of magpies with chicken wing bones across city structures. Thinking about the way that the land itself is a construct of spirituality that exists for Indigenous Peoples and will always continue to be so.

I wanted to counter that with memories of soft imagery of Granny's beading and pulling flower prayers through fingertips.

"Someone told me, or I read somewhere, that birds are the messengers of old gods. They carry prayers on their wings. Not to Christian gods, but the old, old, old ones. But to understand that you need to think outside of the structure of a patriarchal Jesus type figure and more into the idea that everything can be a god. Including the fermented berry that the cedar waxwing is getting drunk off of. I wanted to counter that with memories of soft imagery of Granny's beading and pulling flower prayers through fingertips. We all find gods in our own worlds."

First lines

Old Gods

Lord, it's me, Conor.
You know I'm about as anti-religious as it gets.
And I haven't seriously considered a Christian god since I was twelve at the inner city (native) bible camp outside of Regina.
Or the time I tried to impress a woman by knowing weird biblical facts.
You can imagine how well that went over.

About the 2021 CBC PoetryPrize

The winner of the 2021CBC PoetryPrizewill receive $6,000 from theCanada Council for the Arts, have their work published onCBC Booksand attend a two-week writing residency at theBanff Centre for the Arts and Creativity. Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from theCanada Council for the Artsand have their work published onCBC Books.

The 2022CBC Nonfiction Prizewill open in January. The 2022CBC Poetry Prizewill open in April.