Opening in the Sky

Edward L. Edmonds is a professor of education at the University of
Prince Edward Island.

Armand Ruffo’s poems are driven by his awareness of his Ojibwa
ancestry and heritage. A former way of life is hauntingly evoked in
“Child for Mother and Child” and “Once We Went Fishing,” while
“Protected the Island” reflects an ongoing concern for the natural
environment. The main thrust of Ruffo’s poems is rejection of white
culture and of its arrogant assertion of superiority. “Public
Education” and “Pale Face” express the worst effects of this
cultural dominance. “Let the People Sing” is a song of defiance on
behalf of “a people dispossessed the world over.” In the strokes of
a primitive pictograph, Ruffo can find “stories culled from the
deepest part of a people.” The striking and evocative artwork is by
Leo Yerxa, an Ojibwa by birth and upbringing.