behold the Matriarchs

1. Read the poem out loud paying special attention to the prosody (the “music” of the text) Vermette uses. Where does she use rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, assonance and consonance? What musical or auditory effect does this create? 
    
2. The first stanza of the poem, “gather, gather / roar and rabble” echoes the famous first line spoken by the witches or “Wyrrd Sisters” in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth: “Double, double toil and trouble” (Link to the “Song of the Witches” by Shakespeare). These women asserted their wisdom to Macbeth and Banquo, providing ambiguous fortunes that steer the main action of the play. The Wyrrd Sisters characterise female wisdom and ambition as cunning, natural and powerful. Why do you think Vermette opens her poem with this reference? 
   
   How does this opening contextualize your reading of the poem?
    
3. The second stanza, “cast the Circle / and behold the Matriarchs,” gives the reader a contextual lens to view the rest of the poem. Who are these “Matriarchs” we are asked to “behold”?
    
4. Why do you think the words “Circle” and “Matriarchs” are treated as proper nouns and capitalized? Apply this understanding to the other capitalized nouns throughout the poem (“Teachings,” “Elders,” “Medicines,” “Spirit”).
    
5. Katherena Vermette is a Métis writer from Treaty One territory, the heart of the Métis Nation, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Traditionally, Métis women held social and political power and were treated as equal partners in social, economic, and political spheres ("Emerging Voices of Métis Women," Leah Dorion). Without looking it up, describe your understanding of and connections to the words “matriarchy” and “patriarchy.” What ideas, images, and practices do you connect with these terms?
   
   Now look up both those terms and see if your understanding of those words is changed. 
   
   Find lines in the poem that exemplify matriarchal culture and practices.
    

6. There is a shift in tone in the last two stanzas when Vermette drops an expletive into an archaic phrase that is traditionally used as an affirmation to end a ritual or spell. In Wiccan and Neopagan traditions the phrase, “so mote it be / so blessed it be” is used to anchor the energy raised in a spell and seal the intent. What effect does the inclusion of the word “fucking” have on the tone? 

   Why do you think Vermette did this at the close of the poem, rather than earlier on?
   
   Writing activity: Vermette’s poem uses the language of magick and spellcasting to explore matriarchal values and understanding. Think about your own personal values. Pick an issue that is important to you and write a poem as though you are casting a spell. Use the following question as inspiration for your writing: If your words were magick, how would they change or influence the world around you?         
    

Useful Links

Interview with Katherena Vermette with SLPN Kwahiatonhk! (2025): https://youtu.be/0Tv4HIskg1E?si=n8iUniavv_01mzSe

Article: "Emerging Voices of Métis Women" by Leah Dorion: https://www.metismuseum.ca/media/db/01269

The Song of the Witches: “Double, double toil and trouble” from Macbeth by William Shakespeare: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43189/song-of-the-witches-double-double-toil-and-trouble

Here is a short article by Dr. Will Tosh with the Globe Theatre, about the historical understanding of the Wyrrd Sisters in Macbeth:  https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/discover/blogs-and-features/2020/03/05/the-history-of-the-witches-in-macbeth/#:~:text=In%20the%20play%2C%20the%20witches',will%20he%20be%20'king%20hereafter'%3F