In this episode, I talk with Ojibwe chef Bryce Stevenson who is also the owner of Miijim in La Pointe, Wisconsin, an island in Lake Superior. He’s also a pretty talented poet whose work is included in the zine “Heart Rations: Indigenous Food Poetry.” Bryce is a creative guy who also takes up carpentry work during the off season, a necessity for folks who work on an island like La Pointe.

Nininjiin

A poem by Bryce Stevenson

as a bowl, hysterically

holding juice squeezed

fresh from flesh, burnt

festered, boiled

weathered, leathered

skin until muscles

cooked within. Bones

split, flavors grown no

modifier nor amplifier

in need. Too hot

my hands to carry

blistering dish, gravity

given gift - re-room

the hecatomb - a day

minus the hours

sleep & work spent

in the only room

in the house where

existence is ensured

through the destruction

of life - the results of

which, wasted.