Louis Riel's Address to the Jury
(a found poem)

Your Honours

Gentlemen of the Jury:

I cannot speak
English well, but am trying
because most     here
speak English

When I came to the North West
I found the Indians suffering
I found the half-breeds
eating the rotten pork
of the Hudson Bay Company
and the whites
deprived

And so:

We have made petitions     I
have made petitions
We have taken time; we have tried
And I have done my duty.

My words are
worth something.

[from Batoche, page 55]
Batoche
by Kim Morrissey ISBN 0-919926-91
Copyright by the author

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