My Watermark is Lake Superior, Ontario.

It’s near the end of April but still Thunder Bay is frozen in and Lake Superior’s ice and snow reflect the sun back up into the blue sky. I am here to sing at an Earth Day celebration. I walk to the end of the blustery pier and stand next to a metal sculpture with a speaker in it. I am alone but for a woman’s stark voice coming out of the speaker, saying words in her native tongue- Ice, Fire, Moose.

Is it Ojibwe?

Inside the Harbour Centre I study a perfect replica of a Laker, with miniature cranes, wheelhouse, and cargo containers. The long history of moving grain and other goods out of this water trailhead is evidenced in the black and white photographs on the wall of shipbuilding and ribbon cutting ceremonies.