Make an Impression! Utilize this banner space to reach thousands of potential clients. Contact us for more information: market Poet weaves music magic with tales of Métis women REVIEW By Yvonne Irene Gladue Sweetgrass Writer I Knew Two Metis Women Written by Gregory Scofield Polestar, (sc) $16.95 In Gregory Scofield's I Knew Two Métis Women, 126 pages of poems immortalize hair piled high in a bee hive, hairspray, pink lipstick, peddle pushers, dark eyebrow pencil and the guitar singing of Loretta Lynn and Kitty Wells wannabes. Back when penny loafers, bubble gum, high heeled shoes and head scarves were the rage, women all across the backwoods of Canada polished their vocal chords with coffee or blue ribbon tea and a cigarette. Out would come the guitar and the music would begin. Sounds of raw emotion would pour forth from pursed lips as the performers would emulate the music of Lynn and Wells with their songs of lost love and broken dreams. Somehow these songs healed the singer, as they realized they were not alone in what they were feeling, that somewhere out there in musicland someone was feeling, hurting or loving as they did. Oh, she'd crab dat guitar like a lover, yup crab heem by dah neck an pluck hees strings, tapway just like dat, strummin along to dah Garter Family, Makin heem howl Dah whole night trough, reads the beginning of Scofield's Right to Dah Sun-up. He weaves the music of country and western legends Hank Williams, Kitty Wells, the Carter Family, Hank Snow, and Loretta Lynn into the laughter, the pain, and strength of his mother and aunt. In doing so he brings the indelible memories of these two Métis women, and their communities, to life. Dorothy Scofield and Georgina Houle are the main focus of Métis Women. Their stories echo long after you've taken their journey with them through the book. "I was hoping that this book would touch the hearts of people," said Scofield, "remind them of their own mothers or aunts and bring back a part of their childhood," he said. Métis poet, storyteller, activist and community worker Gregory Scofield was born in British Columbia and raised in Saskatchewan. He delivers wonderful poems about his Métis childhood in this his fourth collection of poetry. "I do not see myself as a poet. I see myself as a community worker and story teller," said Scofield. "There are stories of hardships, pain and triumphs. It is like a mirror, giving life back to the Aboriginal people. Instead of showing just ugly pictures, I wanted to show the beauty, the strength, and the love of the women in our communities," he said. Scofield has just recently completed his biography Thunder Through My Veins which will be out sometime in September. He lives in Maple Ridge, B.C.