Exhale, by Clarissa Mae de Leon

The Scream, depicted in The Forcible Transfer of Children room, from an exhibition by Kent Monkman (Canada) entitled Shame and Prejudice: A Story of Resilience, currently travelling across Canada. Photo: Clarissa Mae de Leon.

Exhale

“I think everything in this room is about residential schools,”
Alice says.

I turn and take in the four black walls
And sink a little into the ground.

Oh.

Exhale.

When we reach the painting on the back wall
My eyes go straight to the middle

Where a woman
Is being torn away from her child.

The mother’s expression--
Defiant,

Desperate,
Terrified.

The child’s--
Gone.

“I am having a hard time facing this one,” I say.

Exhale.

Feeling a compression stretch
Across my chest

I think I have nothing left
To breathe out

But then,
I look up.

Empty
Baby carriers

And
Missing ones

Outlined in chalk.
​
Clarissa Mae de Leon
​
Clarissa Mae de Leon is a PhD student at the Queen’s University Faculty of Education where she researches curriculum theory and multiliteracies. She lives in Kingston, Canada with her greyhound, Emilio.