Song of Rita Joe: Autobiography of a Mi'Kmaq Poet

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

This book is the unfolding diary of Rita Joe’s life: its early
hardships, frustrations, and disappointments; its moments of glad joy;
and its ultimate triumphs. Her style of writing, mediated by Lynn Henry,
is simple and direct. She can move easily into her own first language,
sprinkling her text with significant words and phrases. (Mi’Kmaq is an
agglutinative language, and a glossary is wisely provided.) Gordon
Smith’s musical transcriptions of six of Rita Joe’s poems are
delightfully evocative and immaculately reproduced.

There will be a warm welcome for this life-size portrait of someone who
exemplifies so faithfully the way of life of Canada’s First Nations.
Rita Joe’s concluding message is not one of rancor but rather a plea
for compassionate understanding: “accept me as I am, not as what you
want me to be.” A paramount need for all upcoming generations of
Native women today is the existence of good role models; such is Rita
Joe.