I first encountered the poetry of katherena vermette in 2012 when I was in my early twenties, hinging between different selves and trying to figure out where I belonged. I was immediately struck by the musicality, breath, and precision of her work. Her debut poetry collection, North End Love Songs (which went on to win the 2013 Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry) felt like a permission I hadn’t known I’d needed: permission to write from the belly of my own experiences as a young white-nehiyaw woman, permission to play with the line in unexpected and surprising ways, permission to axis my life towards poetry itself.   katherena is a Michif (Red River Métis) writer from the heart of the Métis Nation, Treaty 1 territory, Winnipeg, whose books have been national best-sellers, received critical accolades and won multiple literary awards. Over the years, I have spent countless hours with her words, learning how to turn a line in a poem, how to craft voice in a story, how to honour who you are, and where you come from.